The Reaper's Apprentice
by Lazboy101
Summary: This is a slightly different AU Remnant where following her mother's death Ruby Rose runs away from a family that avoids her as much as possible. When running she stumbles upon an assassin known as "The Reaper" and follows him searching for a mentor. A few years pass and a 15-year-old Ruby lets slip that she has been trained by The Reaper to Professor Ozpin. What will happen next?
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or any of it's characters. RWBY is owned by RoosterTeeth and Monty Oum**

Prologue

? P.O.V.

 _Knock_

 _Knock_

 _Knock_

"There's no need to knock I know it's you Ruby, so come in" I replied from my desk.

Suddenly the door opens and a flurry of rose petals is all I can see as an excited young girl is literally bouncing around the room.

"Well aren't we in a good mood today?" I say with a small smile.

The girl called Ruby nodded still excited. Ruby Rose, perhaps the most excitable and purest girl I have ever met, and oddly enough she wanted me to mentor her.

"You will never believe what happened to me tonight!" she all but screams with joy.

"Well what happened?" I said amused as I thought 'She must have forgotten about the mark… again'.

"I was in From Dust Till Dawn reading the new _Weapons_ magazine issue, and some thieves attempted to rob the place and myself. After I took care of the grunts, who looked strangely similar enough to be related, I went after this guy in a Bowler's cap who fought with a cane. When a dust crystal was about to blast me off the roof I followed him to a huntress came in and used a shield spell thingy that was totally awesome to protect me!" Ruby explains in rapid fire succession.

"Well what else happened? Surely that's not all it takes to make you come in and run through my room like a tornado this late at night?" I throw a small jab for fun at her overexcitement.

She laughs sheepishly before continuing "Yeah after that she took me and gave me a lecture that I didn't listen to that much, but then a man came in with cookies for me!

While I ate the cookies he talked to me about my fighting style and where I learned it."

I froze momentarily in thought. 'This is going to be such a drag if she didn't respond well.' And then I asked, "What did you tell him?"

"Well I didn't tell him who taught me" I let out a slight sigh of relief. "but he may have slightly probably definitely guessed that I learnt from you." She says with a sheepish grin, and I sigh 'With it being old Oz I should have known he would figure it out. My protégé never was good at lying' I thought then said aloud "Anything else?"

To that she looks to the floor and drags the tip of her shoes in small circles "Well" she says hesitantly "He offered me a spot at the Beacon Academy where he is headmaster, but only on one condition…"

Already knowing what she is going to say next I finish the thought "He wants to meet me at Beacon."

Ruby looks shocked then pauses "I forgot about the mark again." She says not to anyone just thinking aloud.

"Yep." I said popping the 'p' and smiling at her forgetfulness.

She just looks at me expectantly waiting for me to answer. "What is your dream again? Why do you go through my training?"

"I want to become a huntress and help people" she immediately responds with determination.

I smile at the answer "Well I would be a poor excuse as a mentor if I was the reason my pupil didn't get to take the next step to join Beacon early wouldn't I?"

She slowly takes in the meaning of my words and a big smile appears on her face and I continue "As much of a pain as it will be I can't seem to say no to that face" I said and mentally added 'especially not that other face' thinking to myself picturing that puppy dog pout that she has a knack for.

She squeals with excitement and almost knocks me out of my chair with a hug. "So, you will really meet with him so I can go?" she asks all but bouncing while still trying to squeeze the life out of me with that hug.

"Yeah yeah I'll do it" I said rolling my eyes while flicking her forehead sending her tumbling across the room.

"Kyyylllllleeeeeeee. Why'd you flick me" she pouted.

"Because you wouldn't let go and now I have a meeting to worry about I'm supposed to be gone remember? Like the rest of Remnant thinks I am." I deadpanned.

She had the audacity to smirk at me "What is the infamous Reaper scared to come back out into the light of day?" she taunted.

"I have such a disrespectful apprentice. I have failed as a teacher" I say and we both laugh after a moment. "No, you should know by now that nothing out there be it Grimm, human, or faunas can scare me, but that doesn't change the fact if I do meet your soon to be headmaster I may be recognized and attacked by others on the way which will be such a hassle. I don't think he would take kindly to me killing his students or faculty" I said nonchalantly.

Ruby just chuckles "I wouldn't worry too much you've been off the map for the past two years, so I doubt the students will recognize you especially since you look nothing like you did when you were eighteen. You're just being paranoid."

"Paranoia has kept me alive kid it can be pretty helpful, but fine I may even take you along just for the fun of it." I said.

"Oh really?! Then I could get to see Beacon early!" she starts bouncing in her shoes again. "Professor Ozpin told me to have you call him to schedule the meeting for a convenient time this weekend on this scroll." She says handing me a burner scroll.

"Alright I will call him later, but for now it is late so get some rest you'll need it for tomorrow." I said.

She nods then excuses herself to go into her self-proclaimed bedroom, or my guest room. I look at the scroll and sigh wondering how I wound up in this situation. Ruby Rose my protégé, is a fifteen-year-old girl who somehow tracked me down a few years ago and asked for me to train her to become a huntress. According to her she recently ran away from home because of something regarding her looking too much like her mother who was killed on a hunting mission where she was looking for an ancient Grimm. I would assume she died to the creature since no one has seen her since and no body was ever recovered, but her mother's death was just the start of her woes. As she grew up over the years her family had become noticeably more distant with each passing year and eventually it was too much for her, so she ran away. As she ran from town to town she must have seen and recognized me while in Vale from the news, and long story short she followed and convinced me to help her along with her training.

I sigh and pick up the phone "This should be interesting" I mutter before calling the single contact on the scroll.

Ruby P.O.V.

I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding as walk into my room and flop unceremoniously onto the bed. 'I can't believe he said yes!' she thought to herself 'Although now that I think about it, it wouldn't be the first time he has risked something like this after all he did say yes to taking me on as an apprentice after some "light" prodding' I smile fondly remembering how after asking like a bajillion times he finally said yes. 'I can't figure out why being around him doesn't disgust or frighten me. His "Reaper" moniker wasn't earned by killing Grimm, the creatures of darkness, but by killing actual people. After I had runaway I chanced upon seeing him in the shady area of Vale and the rest is history. I never ask him the many questions I have like "Why do you kill? What made you not kill me for bugging you? Why have you recently stopped killing?" and in return he doesn't ask about my family.

Third Person P.O.V.

She sighs and thinks about them again "Yang, mom, dad, and uncle Qrow" she whispers "No matter what I happens I still love you all" she says as a single tear escapes down her cheek. She then changes and gets into bed to sleep.

 _Meanwhile at Beacon Academy_

Professor Ozpin is sitting in his office looking out into the night sky when his scroll rings. He smiles and picks up the phone "Hello who is this?" he asks.

"That depends do you want my name or what I am called in public?" Kyle responds playfully.

"Well I know of what you have been called in the past, so I will take the name if you'd be so kind." Ozpin responds in kind.

"You can just call me Kyle then, so I'm curious what does Beacon's headmaster possibly want to meet me about?" he asks.

Ozpin smiles "I have an offer for you if you will. We can discuss the details in person this weekend on Saturday if noon works for you."

"That time should work, but remind me again where is this meeting taking place?" Kyle asks.

"If you are willing then I would like to meet you at Beacon in my office" Ozpin responds.

"Sure, but do remember who I am. If this is some kind of trap or someone recognizes and attacks me then I can't be held responsible for what may happen." The reaper responded with a smile on his face.

"I will keep that in mind and will do my best to make sure that doesn't happen. I believe this endeavor may prove fruitful for both parties." The headmaster responded with a smile of his own.

 _That Saturday_

Third Person P.O.V.

Two people wearing cloaks both get into an airship heading towards Beacon. The taller of the two a young man wearing black cloak with red lining revealing black cargo shorts, combat boots, and a gray shirt with a smoke pattern on it. His hood down showing a light skinned complexion on his face only marred by a scar slanting across his right cheek, but the most noticeable features were his eyes. His eyes were a dark blood red that seemingly pierced the soul of whoever he looked at, and sometimes falling across those was his messy dark brown hair. Kyle standing at an even 6 feet tall was next to the shorter crimson haired girl wearing her signature red cloak, black combat boots, and her black combat skirt with red lining along with a red box strapped to her lower back standing at 5'2". Like her companion her most noticeable features were her bright silver eyes that shined with a youthful innocence.

The one in red is obviously more excited than her travelling companion as she is happily bouncing around the nearly empty airship as it makes its way to the school. After arriving they both step out and the one in red almost runs off being stopped by the one in black.

"Ruby behave I have a meeting to get to remember, and like it or not you get to come with me." The reaper said as he looks at the girl.

"Heh heh I may have forgot, but just look at this place it's amazing!" she says sheepishly before gesturing excitedly as she looks around the school grounds.

"Yes, I know it isn't the first time I've been here." He said looking towards the clock tower that overlooks the rest of the school.

Ruby looks up to him and follows his eyes to the clock tower. "That's where the meeting is?" she asks in awe.

"Yes, come along we don't want to be late, and I don't want to be standing around long enough to be recognized." He said walking towards the tower.

"You aren't wearing your mask though, so how will they recognize you?" She asks, "The mask is the only reason I recognized you back then."

He sighed "I'm not wearing the mask right now, but I do have it with me, and besides there are some people who have seen the reaper without his mask."

"You worry too much" she says skipping happily along.

He laughs "Maybe I do but are you prepared to see me kill someone if I do get recognized and the need arises?"

She stops and ponders for a second. "I would prefer that not happen but if they attack you first then I can't stop you from retaliating, and as a huntress I will have to face people as well as Grimm. While I wish I could just fight the animal-like creatures of darkness I know that evil people exists that must be stopped" she says momentarily thinking of Torchwick the man she fought a few nights ago.

Kyle looks at her and shakes his head. "Evil is a matter of perspective kid not a definite thing."

She looks up at him confused, so he continues "Do you think I am evil Ruby?"

"No of course not you're a nice person-" She starts before he cuts her off.

"And a majority of the world would disagree with you. I've lost count of the number of people that have died by my hand, and a majority of the world whether in anger or fear refer to me as evil because of the things I have done. No one is pure evil Ruby we just do evil things." He said while continuing to walk.

She thinks about what he said and while seeing his point she still says "Nope." Popping the 'p' sound. "Like you just said evil is a matter of perspective. Some things you've done are bad yes, but by your meaning not completely evil." She said definitively.

Kyle looked back at her then smirks "Using my own words against me huh. I might teach you something yet besides how to use that over-sized farm tool."

"Don't be mean to my sweetheart by calling it a farm tool" she pouts while pulling out and fully extending the box at her back. "She is a High-Impact Sniper/Scythe and my baby" she says lovingly cuddling the six-foot-tall beast of a weapon.

"Whatever you say kid just remember as intimidating as a weapon it might be it only works when you can hit your target." He says with a smug grin.

"Hey! I'm pretty sure the Grimm aren't as fast as you are, so I think I can hit them." She says defiantly.

Deciding to not mention that she herself said not minutes ago that she may have to fight bad people in the future he shrugs, and they walk into the tower then head to the elevator and go up to Ozpin's office.

Upon hearing the ding of the elevator Ozpin looks up from his desk watching the doors open to reveal his two cloaked guests.

"Professor Ozpin" Kyle greets.

"Mr. Reaper" Ozpin replies.

"Here I am, so what is this offer of yours that required meeting in person to discuss?" Kyle asks as they walk in from the elevator.

"Well straight to business then. Very well Kyle and Miss Rose would you two please take a seat and hear me out on what I have to say?" Ozpin asks.

When they sit Ozpin begins talking again "Miss Rose you ran away about two years ago before you were able to start at Signal academy isn't that correct?" He asks Ruby.

When she nods a confirmation he starts again "And who is it that taught you combat since you didn't go to Signal? You are vastly ahead of all of the students your age and even strong enough to take on a man like Roman Torchwick."

She blushes at the praise. "Well it's thanks to Kyle here that I was even close to taking down Torchwick because of his training." When she says this Kyle sighs realizing where this might be going.

Ozpin nods. "Now that brings me to you Kyle, how is it that one as young as yourself is strong enough to not only be a successful assassin, but also skilled enough to teach a young girl like Miss Rose here?"

Kyle sighs before saying "If you're going somewhere with this then just say it."

"Very well. I will take Miss Rose into Beacon early, but I would also like to offer you a position as a combat instructor here at Beacon." Ozpin says before looking at the look of shock on Ruby's face and blank face of the reaper.

"Ozpin you do know that I am on the wanted list in Remnant with a bounty on my head, and even if that weren't a problem I'm only twenty. I doubt students would like to be taught by someone younger than them for the few that are older." Kyle deadpans.

Ozpin smiles. "I can take care of your notoriety by claiming you are on lockdown here at Beacon. All I have to do is bend the rules a bit, and your age shouldn't be an issue since you will be co-instructing with Miss Goodwitch."

Kyle sits there looking at Ozpin before looking towards Ruby who is trying, and failing, to hide her excitement of the possibility of him being there with her at Beacon. He sighs before looking at Ozpin again "This is going to be such a drag but alright I accept your offer." He says before Ruby squeals with joy successfully tackling him out of his seat in a hug. "I swear that speed semblance of yours is going to kill me one of these days" he says after getting up his aura having protected him from the minor fall.

Ozpin pauses "Speaking of which Kyle what is your Semblance?" he asks. The reaper has never been recorded to have shown his semblance, so now that he has the chance Ozpin wanted to ask.

"Hmm? Now why would I tell you that it takes the fun out of things." The reaper smiles and clamps a hand around Ruby's mouth before she says too much.

Ozpin notices this and smiles. "Very well I expect to see you both on Monday when the school year starts, and just so you see how things are done around here Kyle you will be following after Glynda Goodwitch throughout the first week. Lucky for you that means you get to watch the initiation with us." He says with a smile and adds mentally 'And hopefully with Glynda around no one will foolishly provoke the reaper.'

"Understood" Kyle said as they both got up before leaving and heading back to Kyle's place.

 **A/N: Well this is my first go at a fanfic and I have to say formatting what I wrote to this site has been the biggest challenge. Anyways comment, review, or something. Any Feedback is appreciated.**

 **Later peoples Laz signing out.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I still don't own RWBY**

Chapter 1: The First Day

Kyle P.O.V.

"Well here we are Ruby you ready for your first day?" I ask as we stand in the airship surrounded by other potential students.

"Yeah…" she said quietly.

"What's the matter aren't you happy to be here?" I ask slightly confused.

"I'm nervous I got accepted without going to a primary combat school and am two years younger than everyone here." She said with an exasperated sigh.

"You might be moved ahead but you're not the criminal hiding in plain sight" I said laughing a bit "between the two of us would you rather be in my position or yours?"

"Hmm I'm not sure… you do get to spend a lot of time with Ms. Goodwitch" she smiles teasingly.

I just look at her before flicking her forehead causing her to fall over "And I would love to be in your shoes you've got it easy just a simple initiation" I said rolling my eyes.

Pouting Ruby gets up and walks over to me before she sees something.

Suddenly, she runs and hides behind me wrapping herself in my and her cloak. Confused by this I look over to where she was looking and see a relatively tall blonde with long flowing hair and a rather impressive rack. "So, I assume you recognize that girl Ruby?" she nods and quietly says "It's… Yang…my sister…"

I look down at the shaking redhead and pat her head awkwardly "I'm not good at the whole family thing, but why are you shying away from your sister?" I ask.

"I'm scared that she doesn't want me near her. I don't want to feel rejected by my family again…" she said barely above a whisper trembling slightly.

I put an arm around her and held her until she stopped shaking not sure what to do 'Hmm the whole cold-blooded killer thing doesn't help with comforting huh?' I think to myself before kneeling and looking Ruby in the eyes. "You're gonna be alright kid regardless of what happens I am still here to help, and if you don't want to confront her yet you don't have to."

She looks at me a tear running down her cheek before wiping it. "Yeah, you're right, and thanks" she gave a smile.

After recovering a bit Ruby decided to wait on confronting Yang until later, and aside from a scraggly blonde kid getting airsick nothing very significant happened. After landing we walk out and then I look back to Ruby. "Alright I'll see you in a bit according to Ozzy I have to go meet with him and Glynda to discuss some details about my teaching here." I say as I start walking away.

"Alright I'll see you later…" Ruby replies with a sigh and then starts walking lost in thought before running into trolley with luggage on it.

Third Person P.O.V.

Dazed Ruby looks at the luggage strewn about before jumping up in panic when hearing a scream.

"Hey! Watch what you're doing are you trying to get yourself killed?!" said a white-haired girl with a white combat skirt ensemble with a snowflake on it, and a pissed off look on her face.

Ruby panicking starts "Oh I'm sorry I was lost in thought and-"

"Pay attention to your surroundings you dolt!" the girl screamed "this is dust mined and refined by the Schnee Dust Company, and your little stunt right there could have set it all off" she finishes flailing a red dust crystal around to prove her point not realizing that the seal on the crystal is cracked and is letting out small amounts of powdered dust with each shake.

While taking the brunt of the scolding Ruby was about to respond when she sniffed and suddenly sneezed igniting the dust and causing a minor explosion catching the two girls in it.

"You see this is exactly what I was talking about! What are you even doing here? Aren't you a little young to be going to Beacon? This isn't your average school! This isn't a place for little kids!" The irate girl screamed after being partially blown up.

"HEY! I said I was sorry princess, and that explosion was just as much your fault as mine for not noticing the loose seal!" Ruby exclaimed having had enough of what the white-haired girl was saying.

Before the white-haired girl could respond a new voice joined the conversation.

"It's heiress actually. Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company one of the largest manufacturers of dust in all of Remnant." A black-haired girl with a bow and piercing amber eyes said without looking up from the book she was reading.

"Finally! Some recognition" the heiress started before the black-haired girl spoke up again.

"The same company infamous for its controversial labor topics and questionable business partners." the girl said with a hint of disdain in her voice.

"What! Why you… ugh…" the heiress said before stomping away angrily.

Ruby seeing the girl that saved her walk away ran after to introduce herself.

"Hey there! Thanks for stepping in right there before things got any worse. My name is Ruby, Ruby Rose." Ruby said happily with her hand out.

The black-haired girl slowly looked up from her book and hesitantly shook Ruby's hand before responding "You're welcome, and I'm Blake Belladonna" she said before she looked back to her book.

"Sooooo… Blake, do you want to head to the assembly with me? I'm kind of lost." The girl said in a mix of awkwardness and sheepishness.

Sighing the girl responded, "Sure I can show you how to get there." she said finally closing her book to read for another time.

With that the duo walked over to the assembly.

 _Ozpin's Office_

Third Person P.O.V.

"Alright I'm here as you requested, so what else did you want?" Kyle asked bored.

Ozpin at his desk with Glynda standing a bit to his left looked up and motioned for him to come sit.

"Well seeing as the day's proceedings are going to start soon I wanted to make sure you and Professor Goodwitch got acquainted beforehand, and I wanted to give some… shall we say rules that the teachers are expected to follow." Ozpin replied with a serious tone.

"Alright I'll bite what rules did you have in mind aside from the whole actually teaching them thing?" he ask still bored.

"Well for starters you could work on your attitude when speaking to the headmaster." Glynda started to scold.

"And I don't believe the question I asked was directed to you Miss Goodwitch" the reaper said annoyed.

"Why you! If it were up to me I'd happily see you set behind bars or worse." She said venomously.

"Unfortunately, it isn't up to you is it?" The reaper asked rather smugly.

Before she could respond Ozpin spoke, "Alright that's enough you two. From this day on you will be working together as colleagues and instructors, so you will need to stop the meaningless bickering unless you're doing it on your own time." Ozpin stated coolly before looking between the two of them. "And the rule I wanted you to specifically know is that as teachers we try not to pick favorites among students. The opposite is also true. Just because you dislike someone, or some people doesn't mean you can just openly show it." He finished.

Kyle just rolled his eyes before responding, "Let's not forget that I am not a standard teacher, and I already have students that I like more than others my pupil being one of them. As for the second part. If I dislike someone then they will find out about it very fast against the rules or not, it's just how I operate Ozpin." He said coldly before finishing "I am The Reaper, and just because I teach here doesn't mean I won't harm a student who steps… out of bounds."

Ozpin sighed having expected this reaction.

"I do not want to have to make any calls home telling parents that their child has died by the hands of one of our instructors, so at least promise not to kill any of them" Ozpin said to who is becoming his most difficult employee.

"I won't make any promises, but I think I can handle that" Kyle said after thinking for a moment.

"Very well" He said before adding "Now let's come along we have an assembly for the new students and need to introduce you to the rest of them." Ozpin finished standing up with his cane in one hand, and his coffee mug in the other.

Without another word the trio walked out of his office and made their way to the assembly.

 _Assembly_

"Tonight, you will rest in the ballroom and your initiation will begin in the morning." Glynda said after Ozpin's rather odd speech concluded.

Before the students were dismissed Professor Ozpin cleared his throat to make one final announcement.

"Before you all leave I would like for you all to meet one of Beacon's newest teachers and for those of you that survive initiation one of your combat teachers." He said before gesturing for the person off stage to enter.

At this Ruby perked up trying to see over the crowd. While she did this Blake looked at her before asking "What on Remnant are you doing?"

Walking out to the center stage a man in a black cloak looked towards the audience before clearing his throat.

"Hello there everyone, I am Kyle, and you all can just call me professor when necessary, or at least those of you that pass initiation can." The man in black said catching sight of a problem waiting to happen. He looked back and saw his little pupil on a black-haired girl's shoulders waving her arms about trying to catch her lost balance. A moment later she toppled over onto a girl with white hair and an off-centered ponytail.

'For some reason that doesn't surprise me in the least. She always had a knack for getting herself into trouble' Kyle thinks to himself before watching as the white-haired girl explodes in anger.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me are you trying to kill me?" The heiress practically growls at the redhead who fell on top of her. "First you blow me up and now you try to crush me!"

Ruby tries desperately to apologize and explain herself, but Weiss is having none of it growing angrier each minute. Before things get any worse the reaper clears his throat causing both to stare up remembering where they are.

"Right… you can spar each other in class if you pass initiation, but for now at least be docile towards each other" he said exasperated.

Small nods from the embarrassed two were his cue for him to continue.

"Now that we are back on track… let's see… I guess the last thing I'm supposed to do is tell you all who your new professor is, according to Ozpin anyways." He muttered the last part under his breath not at all knowing what was going on in the headmaster's head.

"Alright I'll just come out and say it I am the killer known as The Reaper. Any questions?" he asked lazily looking around seeing nothing but shocked looks before one-person shouts "Prove it!"

Kyle sighs before looking at the nameless kid.

"And how would you like me to "prove" it to you?" he replied already getting annoyed at this whole situation.

"If you are The Reaper then pull out that mask you are always rumored to have with you" the boy responded still full of disbelief.

Kyle sighed before pulling his signature mask off from its resting place at his hip and donned the mask. The mask was pure white save for the blood splatter pattern on the right side of it. It had slanted slits for the eyes always looking like a scowl, and a thin eerie black smile on it.

"Is that all kid?" The reaper asked his voice now colder than before sending chills through some of the student's spines.

Ruby had a feeling of her own, but hers wasn't fear. It was a feeling of worry. In all her time with him she had seen The Reaper wear his mask very few times, but each time he does someone dies. Ruby looked on waiting to see if anyone would pull the trigger and lo and behold a voice spoke up.

The same kid as before just called out "Anyone can wear a mask, so prove that you are The Reaper." He said before looking up at Kyle.

Kyle merely turned his head slightly before gesturing for the kid to come closer, and Ruby looked down at the ground scuffing the ground with the toe of her boot.

'I guess being smart was never much of a requirement for being a hunter' The master and student thought as the boy with black hair, dog ears, and gray armor walked up closer.

'Hmm I thought animals had a trait to be able to sense trouble or something I guess this kid doesn't share that trait' The reaper thought idly for a moment wondering if his trait theory was correct as he waited for the dog faunus to push through the crowd.

As the boy reached the edge of the stage the reaper motioned for him to come up onto the stage, and when he did the reaper looked down at him before speaking.

"You don't believe I am the Reaper?" Kyle asked still annoyed at this situation.

Behind them on the stage Glynda whispered to Ozpin "You don't think he's planning on harming that boy do you?" she asked palming her riding crop before looking towards the headmaster.

Ozpin just stood there quietly clutching his cane in one hand and setting his mug to the side just in case, and then responded. "I really hope not, or else some of the initiates might drop out before it even starts."

Goodwitch looked at him incredulously. "Is that really what you're thinking about right now?" she asked wondering why he isn't more worried about the child.

Ozpin just remained silent and watched the two people center-stage.

After Kyle asked that question the boy just looked at him.

"So, you got a name kid?" The reaper asked.

"My name is Cecil Raver." The boy called Cecil said staring at the masked individual.

"Alright kid, why don't you believe I'm the Reaper?" he asked.

"Because I doubt the staff at Beacon would ever hire someone as despicable as him especially with the number of hunters he has killed over the years" the faunus boy replied.

'Wait a minute… Raver… Raver…' the reaper thought before remembering.

"You had a sister named Cestra didn't you? She was a huntress or something." The reaper asked.

"Y-yes… how… did you know that?" the boy asked with a sudden uneasy feeling in his stomach.

"I remember every person I've killed, or at least I try to remember their names." He said nonchalantly before adding "It looks like I took her from her family, but that's what happens when someone gets between me and a target. Foolish girl."

With that said the boy stood stock still before charging the reaper with a war-hammer like weapon.

Kyle just rolled his eyes before thinking 'He's unlucky and foolish not the best combination.' He was unlucky because the weapon the reaper had with him was his sword called Fate, and foolish for charging into a fight he can't win.

When he got close Cecil swung down with his hammer intent on crushing the reaper's skull in.

Kyle raised his sword and parried the blow sending the boy off balance before quickly spinning around to Cecil's backside and stabbing him through the heart breaking his aura and taking his life with a single blow.

A gasp was heard throughout the assembly hall as the Reaper pulled his blade out from the boy's body and flicked the blood off the blade, and thereby giving everyone a good look at Fate. Fate was an onyx colored single-edged katana with a dark red hilt.

As the crowd looked at the Reaper's weapon a purple glow surrounded his body as Glynda Goodwitch immobilized him.

With a sigh his eyes looked back towards her before briefly flaring his aura and breaking out of Goodwitch's spell. He then took off his mask and returned it to its place on his hip.

"Anymore questions?" He asks. When he sees the crowd is silent he finishes his part of the assembly "Good. Now make sure you get some rest for your initiation" he said as he walked past an irate Glynda and a tired looking Ozpin.

Ruby sighed before turning and running out of the assembly hall looking for Kyle.

After seeing him at one of the rear entrances she walks up to him quietly.

"Where are the other professors?" She asks looking up at him.

"They went to properly recover Cecil's body, and send word to his family about his unfortunate demise." He said leaving out the part that Glynda tried to scold him before Ozpin stopped her saying they needed to take care of the would-be-student.

Ruby nods then looks to her feet.

"I knew it would happen, but I'm still mad at you for killing him." She said before attempting to glare at him.

Kyle just rolled his eyes and hid a laugh at her attempt to glare.

"You know the rules I follow whenever I put the mask on." He said looking down at her.

She thought about his three rules he told her he always follows whenever donning the mask of the reaper.

"The first is that if you are the Reaper's target you will die. The second is if someone gets between the Reaper and his target then they could die. Finally, any perceived act of violence towards the Reaper can and most likely will be met with lethal force." She recited having known them by heart at this point.

These rules were the first thing she was informed of when she began training under him, and she had been told to always remember them.

"And he broke the third one." Kyle said.

"Yeah I know. I know…" she said begrudgingly before looking back up. "Are you going to be in the ballroom with us tonight?"

"Hmm… I'm not sure I probably will be made to in order to scare you all to sleep, and possibly as a punishment for killing an initiate." He said with a wondering expression. 'That's definitely something Ozpin would suggest the crazy bastard.' He thought.

At this Ruby smiled.

"Oh yay you can meet my new friend Blake, and make sure the ice queen and I don't kill each other." She said happily.

"You switch gears at the drop of a hat you know that?" Kyle stated more than asked.

"Yep!" she answered anyways.

 _Later in the Ballroom_

Kyle P.O.V.

'I wasn't serious when I said I might be sent to watch these kids tonight, and what do you know here I am' I think exasperated.

Ruby and I made our ways to the ballroom before she ran off to find the Blake girl she had mentioned, and now I'm sitting at one of the windows with the students thankfully giving me a wide berth. Even so all good things must come to an end because here comes my overexcited pupil dragging a girl who looks nervous behind her.

"Blaaaaaaaake" Ruby whined before finally reaching where I was sitting and bringing the girl up next to her.

"Hey Ruby, who's your little friend?" I ask for the sake of introductions.

"Kyle this is the girl I told you about earlier, Blake." She responded cheerily.

I then look at the girl who tenses up before smiling. "It's nice to meet you Blake I was worried Ruby wouldn't make any friends here." I said jokingly earning a pout from the mentioned redhead.

"I-it's n-nice to meet you too Professor." She says nervously.

"There's no reason to be nervous you're perfectly safe as long as you don't do something foolish like that poor boy did." I said with a light smile.

"O-Okay then" she said calming down before adding "I didn't think Ruby was telling the truth when she said she was your friend."

Ruby pouted again while Kyle asked, "Why is that?"

"Well I just didn't expect it especially after what happened during the assembly." Blake answered.

"You guys are taking this into your own point of views rather than looking from mine. I have killed hunters, hunters in training, criminals, people in the military, and have even performed hits on terrorist groups like the White Fang" I said watching as her body again momentarily froze and her bow twitched at the last suggestion. 'Bingo' I thought before pretending I didn't notice it and continuing "so one more student doesn't mean a lot to me."

Ruby deciding to rejoin the conversation simply said, "You don't need to worry Kyle is pretty kind when he's not you know… killing."

"Anyways" I said looking at them both "It's time to turn in and get some rest for tomorrow. I'd hate to see my protégé and her friend fail." I said with a smug smile.

"We won't fail! I declare it!" Ruby yelled out drawing the attention of most of the room. That includes an heiress and a blonde-haired brawler.

'That voice it can't be… Ruby?' Yang thought looking around for the source of the voice but failing to find it.

The Heiress on the other-hand quickly walked up and yelled at the red-head. "Hey! Some people are trying to sleep here!" She then realized who she was yelling at and said, "Oh not you again!"

She then looked towards me and stopped speaking as I just stared back at her.

"Well like I said earlier I think it's time we all turned in for the night." I said then looked at each girl in front of me.

Blake and Weiss both nodded quickly and ran back to where their sleeping bags were, and Ruby and I were the only ones still near the window I was sitting at.

"Well I'm sleeping over here" Ruby said, and before I asked "Why?" she said, "I have to wake up early enough to prank you before you catch on."

This has been going on for a while because she tried to prank me about a year ago, and when I noticed and turned it back on her she declared she would get me one day. Even after a year she still does it almost every night.

I sigh, "Alright, but I was serious about being ready for initiation, so go to sleep." I said

"I'm your student, so you know I can pass this no problem." She said confidently.

"Yes. Yes. I know, but only if you get some sleep." I said feeling tired from the day.

"Alright I'll go to bed but first, which weapon will you have tomorrow?" She asked curious.

"I'll have my cane tomorrow." I said with a smile.

"Alright then I can go on with my plan I just had to make sure it wasn't the scythe." She said mischievously.

 **A/N: Well I'm still struggling with the whole line break thing, but fuck it.**

 **Anyways thank you to everyone who liked this story and left a review I hope you guys like it, and if you have any suggestions for the story you can comment or message me. While suggestions would be appreciated I may not use them if they interfere with some of the future chapters I already have thought up.**

 **That's all for now Laz out.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY though it might be fun to**

Chapter 2: Initiation

 _5 A.M._

Third Person P.O.V.

'This will be the day, and nothing could possibly go wrong.' The young Ruby Rose thought to herself as she finished getting her plan ready.

Ruby was on one of the light fixtures in the room where everyone was sleeping with a bucket full of gold glitter and an evil smile on her face.

She peered from atop the light fixture down at her target who seemed to be resting comfortably on his sleeping bag.

"Alright it's now or never." She said to herself as she picked up the massive bucket full of glitter and brought it near the edge of the fixture.

"What's now or never?" said a voice behind her which caused her to jump back slightly and turn around.

As she did she lost her balance and fell backwards. Her hand hitting the bucket on the way down causing it to fall as well, and as she fell time seemed to slow while looking up into almost glowing red eyes before landing with an audible 'thud' and followed by an 'ow'.

The bucket landed not a second later causing the glitter to plume outwards and cover everything within fifteen feet of the point of impact.

"Well there goes my sleeping bag. The only way to clean it would be with fire, but I'm more concerned about my little protégé." Kyle said to himself as he looked down at around ten people who had been caught in the blast Ruby included.

'They do not look happy. One in particular.' he thought before shrugging and hopping down and away from the mess.

Ruby P.O.V.

"Ow… Oh no.'' I said before the bucket landed covering me in golden glitter.

I looked down at myself before sighing and thinking, 'How did he knoooooow? That was supposed to work but now I'm the one covered in glitter.'

A sudden shriek reminded me that I wasn't alone, and _definitely_ not the only one covered in glitter.

A gold covered Weiss stomped towards the offending bucket then looked to me. Uh oh.

"Are you the one who Did THIS!" a fuming Weiss Schnee yelled at me before I sheepishly shrunk away from her glare.

"Ummm… Well you see… gottagobye." I shouted as I ran out of the ballroom using my semblance leaving glittering roses in my wake.

'Wow even my soul has glitter in it now. I'm never getting all of this off.' I thought before rushing to the showers having grabbed my stuff on the way.

Third Person P.O.V.

"Rose petals… it has to be her." Yang thought as she snagged one of the petals before it faded away.

 **Break**

 _Cafeteria_

"Well did you learn something kid?" The reaper asked as he finished his breakfast.

"Yeah I did. Glitter doesn't come out of anything well. There's still some in my hair for Dust's sake." The crimsonette answered running her hands through her hair.

"I really thought you would have learned the first time after using glitter, but you've always been stubborn." He said with a chuckle and a resulting pout from the redhead.

"You really should remember unless you want the princess over there to skin you alive." He finished with a yawn.

Ruby shuddered at the thought before looking around to spot said ice princess before jumping at the sound behind her.

"There you are! Do you have any idea how much it is going to cost to get all that glitter out of my clothes and hair?" screamed a white and gold haired banshee.

"Ahh! I'm super sorry I didn't mean to cover that entire area in glitter" Ruby lied without missing a beat.

"Then what on Remnant were you trying to do with all that glitter!?" The heiress all but screamed again.

Ruby shuffled her feet before pointing at the new combat instructor who raised an eyebrow.

"I was trying to cover him in glitter, but then he surprised me, and I fell down with the bucket, and then 'boom' explosion of glitter. Pleasedon'tskinmealive!" She quickly finished fearing for her skin's safety.

'I wasn't serious when I suggested that the ice queen might skin her alive, but with how this is going I might not be too far off' The reaper said before speaking. "Alright that's enough you two. It's like 5:30 in the morning, so at least be quiet."

"Oh! So it was your fault this happened!" She ignored his request and went on yelling. "Do you know who I am? What my family can do to you?" She seethed.

The reaper just looked at her coldly before asking with a smile "Was that a threat?"

The heiress gulped as a chill went down her spine.

"Now stay quiet or go complain outside, so you don't wake anyone up." He said his tone allowing no room for argument.

"Y-Yes sir!" she squeaked before running to another table.

"Ha Ha! Thanks for the save Ky-" Ruby said relieved before seeing his glare.

"And you need to learn to focus on your target without loosing sight of them. You took your eyes away for a second, and you failed in your prank because of it." The reaper scolded. "Not only that, but because of that attack's recklessness others got caught up in it."

"Heh heh… yeah I know I'll do better next time." Ruby responded looking down at her feet.

"A Reaper must complete each assignment without fail. By extension I don't want to see failure coming from my own student. I expect it from the others, but I expect more from you." He said

"Yes sir. I won't disappoint you again." She said resolutely.

"Good. Now it might be time for you to get ready. I have to go find the not-so-Goodwitch." He said standing up.

 **Break**

After checking his scroll Kyle found out that the two professors were at the edge of Emerald Forest, so he walked out to the cliff side where they were standing.

"Good morning." The reaper said walking up.

"Good morning Reaper. I hope you had a restful night with the students." Ozpin said without looking up.

"Yes, I was able to relax for a little while, and no one died which I suppose you two find important." The reaper replied.

"Yes, we are very happy to hear that you haven't killed another potential student." Glynda responded disdain evident in her voice.

"I said I would "try" not to kill anyone, but they said to put on the mask. I don't have any regret from that situation." The reaper said while looking out over the forest. "Anyways how's this initiation work." The reaper asked before Glynda could respond.

"Well at the center of the forest is a set of ruins that have relics, and each student has to form a team of two then retrieve one of the relics before coming back up this cliffside." Ozpin said checking through all the forest's hidden cameras.

"Seems simple enough. I suppose that any who fall behind are left behind in this kind of game." Kyle said with a small smile.

"Exactly." Ozpin said with a smile of his own.

"I never pegged you to be so sadistic Ozpin how frightening." He said in mock fear before laughing.

"I haven't the slightest idea what you mean. I just want the children to prove themselves in a live combat scenario." Ozpin replied while hiding a smile behind his ever-present coffee mug and taking a sip of whatever was inside.

"Right. Right. How are the teams of two formed?" Kyle asked before looking at the still smiling Ozpin.

"First person they make eye-contact with in the forest. Let chance have its fun." The headmaster replied.

"Oh this will be fun. We might get along better than I thought." The reaper said returning the smile.

"You two are going to be the death of me." An exasperated Goodwitch announced while shaking her head slightly.

 **Break**

After some time passed most of them came out to the side of the cliff where they were instructed to stand on pedestals. When everyone arrived, Ozpin told them their objective and explained how partners were formed leaving some people grinning and others nervous. One boy with blonde hair seemed particularly confused, but before he could ask for clarification another student with orange hair asked a multitude of questions.

"Professor Ozpin do sloths make noise? If so what do they sound like? Oh, and how often does the school resupply maple syrup?" The girl asked.

"They do make a noise, but I cannot mimic it at this time, and to answer your other question every day we have people doing inventory to find out what we need to order for the next day." Ozpin responded without missing a beat.

"See I told you they make a noise Ren!" The girl screamed happily at the boy standing right next to her.

"Yes Nora, but what do they sound like?" A boy with a single magenta stripe in his black hair and matching magenta eyes asked.

After hearing an interesting noise come from the girl Kyle walked over to the pedestal that Ruby was waiting on and said a single sentence that brought a smile to her face before becoming serious. "For initiation the first restriction is lifted, so make sure to put on a good show I'll be watching with the other professors." He said before patting her shoulder and walking back to the other teachers.

During that time the confused blonde boy, Jon Arc or something, managed to get the headmaster's attention away from the hyperactive redhead, so he could ask his questions.

"Umm how are we getting into the forest? Are you like dropping us off or something?" The boy asked not realizing the first of the pedestals had been activated launching the students into the forest.

"No Mr. Arc, you will be falling." Ozpin replied.

"Oh, of course. Did you hand out parachutes or something?" He asked now nervous as each sequential pedestal activated.

"No. You will be using your own landing strategy." Ozpin said sipping from his mug.

"And what is a landing stratEGGGYYYYYYY." Jaune asked as he was launched.

"This should be fun." Kyle said taking a seat at the edge of the cliff with his scroll watching a certain cloaked girl flying through the air.

 _With Ruby_

'Wow this is so cool!' she thought.

"Oh no! Birdy!" She said as she flew straight into it before whipping out Crescent rose in her semi-compact gun form firing shots to slow down her descent.

Upon finding a good tree the scythe-wielder unfurled her weapon into its full form latching around a branch and causing her to spin before jumping down to the ground.

"Alright so now that I've had one of the restrictions lifted I have to make sure to put on an impressive show, but first I need a partner. So who do I know here? There's Blake she would be good, but I don't know if we would be able to hold a conversation. There's Weiss, and no just no. Finally, the last one I know is Yang, but with how this morning went I don't know." She muttered to herself as she walked calmly through the forest.

 _Flashback to earlier_

 _Ruby was sitting alone finishing her food before hearing her name._

" _RUBY!" Yang called out finally finding her long lost sister._

 _Ruby looked back and upon seeing her sister did the only thing she could think of doing._

 _She panicked._

" _Ah! Yang!" she said before disappearing in a burst of rose petals._

Present

'That might not have been the best reaction' she internally berated herself before hearing the bushes ahead of her rustling and looking up.

Just then out of the bushes comes one of the last people she wanted to see. Weiss Schnee

They both look up at each other stunned momentarily before said heiress turns around and walks back into the bushes.

Ruby sighs in relief, but quickly sighs again as she is dragged away by the heiress who came back.

"This in no way makes us friends." The heiress said. 'But at least you might be better than that blonde kid who was pinned to a tree by a spear.' She thought.

"Alright Weiss I want this to work, so can we bury the hatchet maybe?" Ruby asked sheepishly.

"Ugh alright fine. If you can convince me that you aren't completely useless then yes, I will forgive you for all the things you have done in the last 24 hours, and we can try being good partners. But! You have to answer some questions first." Weiss responded.

"Okay what'd you want to know?" Ruby asks curiously.

"Well my biggest question is why you're always around the Reaper?" she asked

Ruby thought back to a conversation she had with Kyle before they arrived at Beacon.

" _While you're at Beacon you will not only have a partner for your time there, but you will also be placed on a team of four with another pair of partners. Since they are going to be your teammates it will be up to you how much you tell them. You can tell them about my being your teacher or even what the restrictions I have in place for you are, but you can't tell anyone the true nature of the mark on your shoulder. If they ask you can lie or just tell them you don't want to talk about it, but they don't need to know what it is." The reaper explained in the serious tone he uses when training._

" _Alright I swear not to tell anyone about the mark, and I may keep some of the other stuff private as well. I guess I've picked up on your trust issues." She said the last part jokingly._

" _Maybe so. Maybe so."_

"Well I guess I'm always around him because he is my mentor." She said simply not saying anything unnecessary.

"Alright…" the heiress said before thinking 'How? No never mind maybe I'll dig on this later.'

"Wait what did he say to you before we were launched? I heard something about a restriction." Weiss asked as they kept walking.

"For now, all you need to know is that he said my first restriction was released, and until I get to know you better that's all I will say on that topic." Ruby said coolly before seeing a shadow fly over them and looking up.

'He wanted a show' She thought before speaking to her partner.

"Hey Weiss?"

"Hmm?"

"Take my hand for a second."

The heiress hesitated and looked at the strange girl before offering her hand.

"Hold on!" Ruby said with a smile

"What are you- AHHHHHH!" She started before letting out an undignified scream.

 _On the cliff_

"All the remaining students have found a partner. I truly feel for Ms. Nikos I don't care what-" Goodwitch started a rant before getting cut off by a loud screech.

"Well I said to put on a show, and this is a great start." The reaper said with a growing grin while looking at his scroll's screen to see the cause of said screech causing the other professors to look at the source of his amusement before gaping.

 _At the ruins_

"Alright so which piece should we grab?" One Blake Belladonna asked looking towards her long-blonde-haired partner.

"How about a cute little pony?" Yang asked picking up a white knight chess piece.

"Sure." Blake said before hearing an ear-splitting screech.

"Oh no some girl is in trouble." Yang said before a second high-pitched scream filled her ears coming from a different direction. "Oh no two girls are in trouble." She corrected herself.

Just then one of the sources of the screams went flying by and landing in a tree revealing a slightly air-sick Jaune Arc. Before anyone could say anything a vortex of rose petals came from the sky hitting the ground and creating a small crater before disappearing to reveal one Ruby Rose holding Weiss Schnee bridal style with a large grin on her face only to be matched by the angry, yet distant look on the face of the heiress.

"I told you we would be fine." Ruby said happily

"Never. Ever. Do. That. Again." Weiss said still trying to get her bearings which wasn't strange. Disorientation tends to be a side effect when riding with Air Ruby. Riding on top of a nevermore before and after didn't help her much either.

"Ruby!" Blake and Yang said at once pausing to look at one another.

Before Ruby could acknowledge that awkward situation an even more awkward one presented itself. Out of the tree line came a roaring Ursa Major that briefly stopped and fell down revealing a happy Nora and a disgruntled Ren when he caught up to her.

"Aww it broke." The girl said in a disappointed voice.

"Nora… Please don't… ever do that again…" He said between breathes. 'Déjà vu' Ruby thought.

"Enough! Can everyone just chill for like two seconds!" Yang screamed her lilac colored eyes turning red and her hair seemingly aflame.

Blake humored her partner by counting from two on her fingers. Seemingly listening to her plea after the two seconds were up the clearing rustled again revealing a red-haired girl in bronze armor and a tiara running for her life with a massive deathstalker on her tail.

"Great now that we are all together we can all die together." Yang cheered while looking at the deathstalker and now returning nevermore.

Ruby just smiled before taking a deep breath and focusing herself. If he wanted a show, then she would be happy to deliver. After looking at the deathstalker, who was hesitating at the sight of eight prey instead of one showing its age and somewhat increased intelligence, she looked at the massive nevermore circling above the group before tapping Weiss on the shoulder.

"Weiss can you give me a boost I need to get above the nevermore." She said still looking up.

"What are you insane? Why?" She said shocked at the request.

"Slightly, and I'm going show you the answer one of your previous questions." Ruby said flashing the girl a bright yet slightly evil looking smile.

Weiss for her part just sighed before accepting that she had no idea what was going on in this girl's head and creating a glyph for Ruby to springboard off of. Seeing the glyph Ruby jumped up and propelled herself into the air with assistance from her semblance and disappeared in a flash of rose petals.

 _Back on the ground_

"What did you just do with my sister!" Yang yelled angrily to Weiss.

"I can honestly say I have no fucking clue." Weiss said pinching the bridge of her nose with her fingers to stall a coming headache.

 _In the air_

The cookie-loving huntress-to-be started circling through the air around the nevermore causing a storm of rose petals to obscure its vision angering the ancient grimm. All of a sudden, the rose petals all disappeared leaving the huntress nowhere in sight. Suddenly the creature having momentarily forgotten its elusive prey looked down to find a new target before diving down towards it.

 _On the ground_

"Umm guys… The bird is divebombing." Jaune said worried. The rest of the initiates got ready to dodge before seeing the large creature fly beak first into the head of the deathstalker with a sickening crash. After the dust settled the nevermore sat atop the dissolving body of the deathstalker and looked at them. It was about to screech again before a visible glinting arc above the nevermore's head separated it from the rest of its body revealing a smiling Ruby Rose holding her scythe in one hand. After that she looked at one of the not-so-hidden cameras and bowed slightly before walking by the rest of the group who stood their mouths agape and picked up a chess piece before returning to her partner and dragging her along back in the direction of the cliff.

 _On the cliff_

Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch stood there stunned. The first to recover was Glynda.

"What was that just now?" She asked replaying the nevermore's divebombing on her scroll. "Grimm have never attacked each other when humans and faunas are around, so why would it do that?"

Ozpin just stood there trying to wrap his head around what happened before looking to the reaper. "Do you know what happened there Kyle?" Ozpin asked.

"I don't know maybe it just got a little confused." He replied with a small smile while watching the students return to the cliff trying to ask all sorts of questions to the cloaked girl who seemed content with skipping through the forest and not answering any of their questions.

 **Break**

"Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing, Russel Thrush, and Sky Lark. You four retrieved the black bishop pieces and will hereby be known as Team CRDL led by Cardin Winchester." Ozpin announced to the crowd.

After a short cheer four more came up to the stage. "Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren, and Nora Valkyrie. You all retrieved the white rook pieces and will hereby be known as Team PNJR (Pincer and yes I am borrowing this name) led by Pyrrha Nikos."

The crowd cheered again louder showing _'The Invincible Girl'_ had some fans in the audience.

"Finally, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long. You four retrieved the white knight pieces and will hereby be known as Team RWBY led by Ruby Rose." Ozpin finished before muttering under his breath what some of the others were thinking. "This is going to be an interesting year."

 _After the ceremony_

"I know I said it earlier, but I'm reminding you the restraint is now back on since initiation is over." The reaper said while walking through one of Beacon's halls with his student.

"I know. Now tell me did you enjoy the show?" She asked with hope in her voice.

"Yes, it was very entertaining you should have seen Glynda's and Ozpin's faces. It took everything I had to keep from laughing at them." He responded with a small laugh. "You did well Ruby." He said ruffling her hair earning a "Hey!" from the girl. "Anyways it is time to get back to your team at your dorm. I have to get back to my room and make a call anyways."

"Alright see you tomorrow!" She said skipping happily down the hall to her dorm.

 _In the RWBY dorm_

As Ruby walks into her team's room she is suddenly swept up by a yellow blur.

"Ruby! I'm so glad to see you. We've been worried sick ever since you left." A happy Yang said squeezing the life out of her sister.

"Air. I. Need. Airrrrrrrr." She gasped causing the blonde to sheepishly set her down. "And did you really miss me because you all didn't seem to care about anything involving me before I left." Ruby said with a glare.

Yang felt as though she had been stabbed by the statement. "Yes, we did. I'm sorry we ignored you when you were around, but after you left everything just felt empty. Uncle Qrow wanted to go out and look for you, but after about a week he was called away on an assignment outside the kingdom that he is still on. Dad broke down again not realizing the effect of you being gone would have, and I had to take care of him. When I wasn't doing that I was still looking for you and attending Signal, but you seemed to just vanish." She finished with a sigh and having said all that she needed all she could do was wait for a response.

"Yeah that was kind of thanks to Kyle. I told him I didn't want anyone to find me for a while and got absorbed in my training." Ruby responded sheepishly before hugging her sister.

After that emotional reunion team RWBY went to sleep the WBY portion deciding to interrogate their leader about the forest in the morning.

 _On one of Beacon's roofs_

"Hey it's me." The reaper spoke into his scroll.

"Yes, everything is going smoothly. Have you found someone yet?"

"What about the marking?"

"Perfect. This should be fun."

"Right. Right. You don't want to keep her waiting now run along."

With that he hung up the scroll and looked towards that shattered moon and smiled. "This will be very fun indeed." He said before walking back into the school towards his own room.

 **A/N:**

 **Hey everyone here is the new chapter, and to respond to a few comments I know that it was a lot for just the first day, and to be honest that was an accident more than anything else with how long it turned out. To respond to another and one of my favorite comments so far I agree the name Kyle for an assassin is absurdly funny, and don't worry about me revealing too much it is all going according to the master plan that I've changed a few times so I try to not give too much away anyways.**

 **Anyways thanks for reading everyone. Favorite, follow, review, or whatever fits your fancy.**

 **Laz out**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY**

Chapter 3: First Day's Drama Part 1

Third Person P.O.V.

 _TWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET_

An "Agh!" came from the disgruntled heiress as she fell out of her bed only to look up at her team leader with a whistle in her mouth and a smile on her face.

"Goooooooood Morning Team RWBY!" Ruby chirped happily.

The other members of team RWBY were in different stages of waking up. Ruby was already dressed in her uniform along with Blake. Yang had just come out of the shower dressed in her uniform leaving only Weiss still in her sleep wear.

"I'm still trying to be nice here, so can you please refrain from offending my ears like that this early in the morning." Weiss said calmly after taking a deep breath.

"I had to wake you up somehow." Ruby said with an innocent smile.

"Why did you want me up this early? Our classes don't start till nine." The heiress asked.

"We have our first mission as a team this morning!" she said excitedly.

"And what would that be?" Weiss asked growing tired of this already.

"We have to unpack and decorate our room!" Ruby said while Blake held up a suitcase to prove her point which fell open spilling its contents onto the floor. "And clean." Blake added.

With that the four went about unpacking all their stuff, and soon realized they didn't have room for everything. To solve this problem, they rigged two sets of bunkbeds one raised with books none of them were going to read while the other was suspended from the ceiling. The latter made the heiress fear a death by crushing if it were to fall.

"Alright next on the agenda is classes. First, we have Grimm Studies, next is History, and finally we have Combat Class." Ruby said before Weiss spoke up. "Oh no it's 8:55! We're going to be late." With that she ran out the door quickly followed by the rest of her team and team PNJR.

 _In another part of the school_

"I would like to make sure you get to see the other professors in their element, so you will be following your pupil's team to each of their classes and assisting the professors when needed." Ozpin said before taking a sip of coffee from his ever-present mug.

"Sure thing I can do that easily enough, and this is only for the first day correct?" Kyle asked while looking at the students passing by making their way to class.

"Yes Mr. Reaper it is only for the first day. After that you will perform as required for your combat class." Ozpin replied before seeing some colorful blurs approaching. "And I believe that is the team you get to shadow." He finished.

"Yeah that looks like them. Being late on the first day isn't the best impression is it." The reaper sighed and thought 'I will have to work more with her on punctuality it seems.' He then followed them into their first class.

 **Break**

"Monsters, demons, the creatures of Grimm go by many names, but I simply refer to them as Prey!" A portly fellow with a big bushy mustache said to the class who didn't give a response. "And soon you will too." He tried again getting a single 'Woo' from one of the students while the others quietly took notes or didn't pay attention. The heiress was one of the former taking notes while her partner was the latter seemingly asleep.

In her defense most of the class wasn't paying attention as he told an over-embellished story of his past hunter missions, but that didn't stop Weiss's frustration from imploding.

Meanwhile leaning against one of the side walls of the classroom Kyle was looking around bored.

'Nice start Port I can respect giving the kids an excuse to catch up on sleep.' The reaper thought sarcastically while looking around the room at the students and both their lack of attention and abundance of sleep. 'Even that hyper-active protégé of mine fell asleep. You know that's actually pretty impressive maybe I can learn a thing or two from this guy.'

As Professor Port finished his longwinded story he looked upon the disinterested class and took it in stride.

"Now as I'm sure you know we have a guest here in class today, so I would like him to come and demonstrate how to slay a common Grimm." The professor said looking over to the reaper who shrugged and walked down into the arena area where Port was. His statement caught the attention of a few of the students who hadn't previously been paying attention. After some murmuring and nudging everyone was somewhat awake again and waiting for the two teachers.

Professor Port had brought out a locked cage that held the Grimm inside, and judging by the shaking around it wasn't very happy to be in said cage.

"This is going to be disappointing I can see it now." Kyle muttered under his breath contemplating if this creature was worth the hassle of cleaning his weapon after. After deciding he should probably kill it like a hunter would he brought out a small folded black box.

Ruby seeing the box grabbed onto Weiss and started shaking her back and forth. "Weiss! He has his scythe today! We're so lucky!" The girl said excitedly ultimately making her partner even angrier than before.

"And just why is that a big deal?" She asked through clenched teeth.

"Becaaaaaause he never uses it. I've seen him use it in a fight all of two times since I've known him, and that was only to show me how to use one when I first started training with him." The girl bounced excitedly deciding not to mention the times she had seen it used on people.

 _Flashback_

" _Why?" A saddened Ruby muttered looking at the grisly scene before her._

" _Why what?" Kyle asked cleaning the blood off his scythe from the corpse of his most recent contract._

" _Why did they have to die? Not why do you kill, but why did it have to be them?" She asked a bit louder than before looking at the bodies of the family that no longer exists._

" _To be fair my contract was only for one of them, but the others tried to stop me, and I have to follow my code." He said coolly. "If you want me to continue your training then you will have to get used to who I am and what I do. And the why isn't important for you yet, you may learn in time. All you need to know is I have a partner who gives me the contracts after going through a… let's say special process, and you'll learn more about that in time if you stick around." He finished._

" _Anyways let's head back I am tired this job took far too long." He said stretching his back before walking out the door._

" _O-okay. Hey wait for me!" She called as she ran out after him._

The first time seeing him use the scythe seriously was scary, but at the same time beautiful in the mind of the redhead, so she always loved to see it in action. Though preferably not on a human or faunas.

Back in the little arena area of the classroom the reaper extended his scythe revealing it to be purely black with an insertion area for dust that was used to infuse dust into the scythe's blade. The scythe itself stood at seven feet tall with the blade of the scythe spanning across three feet. The reaper then pulled out a wind dust crystal and inserted it into the dust chamber of the scythe causing the veins throughout the scythe to glow a light green as the dust traveled to the blade.

"I'm ready whenever you are Professor P." Kyle said lazily looking at the cage.

"Very well. Now pay attention students this should be a good learning experience for you all." He said before hitting the lock off the cage with his blunderaxe weapon.

Out came a small Borbatusk, and the reaper just looked down and sighed. 'Port better have something better for the students as the semester goes by because this is just sad.' He thought before sidestepping the charging Borbatusk. As it came for a second charge the reaper picked up his foot and stomped down on the borbatusk's head pinning it down and swung his scythe in a quick arc separating the head from the body.

"Well that was rather unorthodox, but very well-done Reaper." Port said with a smile as the reaper folded his scythe and walked back to his place near the wall. "Now would anyone-" Before he could finish the bell rang signaling the end of class. "Oh well I guess that's all for today. Do the assigned readings for homework, and always remember to stay vigilant." He finished as the students left.

As the class ended Ruby ran over to her mentor with a smirk on her face. "You know Kyle I'm starting to think you have a thing for decapitations." She said in a smug tone.

"Why do you say that?" Yang asked as the rest of her team walked up to the two with Weiss walking out and making her way to the next class quickly.

"Because he always cuts the head off when using his scythe." Ruby said matter-of-factly while her teammates felt a shiver go down their spines.

"Why are you so calm about saying that imagine that happening to actual people." Yang said with a wary look to her sister's teacher.

"I don't have to imagine it. I have seen it a couple times." Ruby said simply before adding "Somehow it always captivates my attention."

Yang and Blake processed what Ruby just said. Yang thinking along the lines of 'What has he done to my sweet innocent little sister?' While Blake was on a different train of thought and actually voiced her question. "You speak awfully calmly about this. Have you killed anyone yourself before?"

"No. I haven't had to yet." Ruby responded evenly.

'Yet?' her teammates thought.

"Alright I think you guys are going to be late again if you aren't careful, and besides Ruby this isn't the place for that kind of discussion." He finished walking out the door.

"Ah! Weiss will be mad if we are late again! Charge!" Ruby said rushing out with rose petals appearing behind her as she tapped into her semblance.

 **Break**

In Dr. Oobleck's class the lanky speedy history teacher zipped about the room only pausing to ask questions and drink from his thermos. Ruby was still failing in Weiss' eyes but not for lack of trying she was just struggling like the rest of the class to keep up with the history speed demon.

After an uneventful class the team left for lunch, and as everyone was leaving the classroom Kyle stopped Weiss to make her stay behind for a minute. After a look from Ruby he said, "No I don't have a contract for your partner relax." After that she smiled and left with the rest of her team.

"Alright Ms. Schnee follow me if you would." Kyle said walking out to one of the school's balconies.

When they got there Weiss decided to ask. "So, what did you want with me _sir_?" The 'sir' part sounding forced.

"Oh I just was wondering about what is bothering you is all." The reaper replied ignoring the way she said sir.

"Oh? I don't know maybe because that student of yours doesn't deserve the role she has." She said venomously.

"Why do you think that?" He asked somewhat curious and very much amused.

"Well she has done absolutely nothing that a leader should do. She has goofed off in class, and just acts like a child." The heiress said getting progressively louder.

"What should a leader do in your opinion?" He asks still amused as he winks towards the redhead in the shadows.

"A leader should be able to show that they are not only equal to their peers, but they must have the know-how and will to get their peers to follow them." She said after thinking for a second.

"Hmm… not at all what your father would have said, so for that I'm impressed. The second part of your statement she has, but you just don't see it. She has the will to lead a team as made obvious in the fact that the other two already seem to trust her to an extent. You are the odd one out on that one, and do you really believe that Ruby isn't your equal? That's pretty shallow not gonna lie." He rambled before finally stopping to see what the heiress had to say.

After a moment she finally spoke up "I don't think she belongs here. She is still too childish and hasn't shown she deserves this, and I have been training my whole life to be a leader, so I just don't think it's fair." She said with a huff before walking away and leaving the reaper looking out over the courtyard.

"So, what do you say to all of that." He asked.

"I think that was pretty expected given who she is and how she grew up." Ruby said walking out of the shadows and stopping next to Kyle.

"Yes, I wouldn't have expected anything less coming from that family. Arrogance and pride will be that girl's downfall unless something changes her, or someone." He said looking towards her.

"That'll be a tough one to crack, but before that I need her to see me as a leader rather than a nuisance." Ruby said while thinking.

"Well she doesn't see you as an equal, so I think all you have to do is knock her down a few pegs. After that see what happens and go accordingly. You remember how I feel about elaborate planning." He said.

"The more steps the higher chance of something going wrong, so for certain situations you have to be adaptable, or something like that." She said with a smile.

"Yep, and I can set up this little event, but it will be on you to actually win. You are the student of a Reaper, so I have high expectations, and it isn't just me anymore there are a lot more people watching you to see what you will do like Weiss. She expects you to fail so prove her wrong." He said with a grin.

"I've never let you down yet, so I don't plan on starting now just because there is a bigger audience." She said returning the grin.

"Good now make sure to give them all a show and prove that you earned your place here like the rest of them." The reaper said standing up.

"I will show her what the price of arrogance is." She said as she also stood up straight.

"That reminds me for some reason. What excuse did you give your team for missing lunch?"

"Oh, just something about a stomach ache, and that I would be back in a bit." Ruby answered.

The reaper nods before asking what he had been wondering for a little while. "What was the point of lying to your team about having not killed anyone if you added 'yet' at the end of it."

"That's easy. If we get into any situations involving criminals, terrorists like the White Fang, or some other kind of person with malicious intent towards us I won't have to hold back as much. I lied about the killing in general because they like the innocent Ruby rather than the cold one. Especially Yang." She said with a slight smile.

"You're right on that one, but just remember whenever others are nearby you will have to keep up the act or else you'll just bury yourself into your own grave." He said as they then left the balcony heading towards the Combat Class.

"Of course." She said happily now skipping along. At this Kyle just smiled and they continued their walk to the classroom finding her worried team waiting for her. Well mostly worried with the exception of the Weiss Queen.

 **Break**

"Good afternoon everyone as you all probably know I am Glynda Goodwitch one of your combat instructors and this here is the Reaper, or as you all will address him Professor Kyle." She said pointing towards said person standing next to her.

"In this class you will see fighting of all types, and will be expected to spar in anything ranging from 1v1 to 4v4 with the possibility of things like 1v4s etc. etc." The reaper said lazily while looking around the room then back at Glynda who nods.

"Since it is the first day and we have two combat instructors this year I thought we could start off with a spar between instructors." Ozpin's voice sounded through the room's personal intercom system.

Glynda nodded and looked to Kyle with the start of a smile gracing her face.

'Why do I feel like this was her idea.' He thought to himself before sighing. "Two fights in one day both below my standards." The reaper said tauntingly. Glynda held her smile nonetheless.

"If that is how you respect your co-workers then perhaps you need to be taught a lesson." She said grabbing her riding crop. A wolf-whistle came from the crowd causing the reaper to deadpan at his protégé that casually whistled while looking at the wall. Glynda on the other hand realized exactly what she said and was trying to stop the embarrassed blush from forming further.

"Alright so can we hurry this up this class won't last forever." He said bored and taking to one side of the arena.

"Yes, we will begin. In these spars aura gauges will be shown on the screen above as well as on each contender's scroll, and when one reaches 20% the meter will turn red. When this happens, the match is over." She said as she took to her side of the arena.

As they were getting ready the door opened revealing Professor Ozpin.

"Seeing as how you two are competing in this I will be the referee for this match and stop it if need be. Remember I would like to keep my school in good condition, so please do refrain from too much damage." He said then took a sip from his mug.

"That's fine with me." The reaper said falling into a loose fighting stance.

"Are you so arrogant that you don't feel the need to brandish your weapon against me?" Glynda said with a scowl on her face.

'She does not like me at all huh' he thought to himself before grinning. 'I wonder how far I can push her.'

"I don't think it is worth the dust usage Goodwitch." He gave her a cocky smile.

 _With Ruby_

"Why is he acting so arrogant? Killing a small Borbatusk doesn't even compare to a fully trained huntress." Yang asked.

"He isn't being cocky. He doesn't want to kill her since he doesn't have to." Ruby said as she watched them.

"What do you mean by that?" Yang asked still confused while Blake looked like she was catching on.

"Remember what we talked about this morning after Port's class?" Ruby asked.

"He can't hold back as well when using the scythe can he?" Blake stated more than asked.

"Exactly. Using the scythe is like donning the mask, but to a lesser extent. If he used the scythe, then he would take her head." Ruby said while leaning on the railing overlooking the arena.

"What makes you so sure that your precious mentor can win against Professor Goodwitch?" Weiss asked still vexed by the actions of the Rose

Ruby said nothing and just waited for it to start.

 _The match begins in_

 _3.._

 _2.._

 _1.._

 _Begin!_

With that Glynda activated her semblance and restrained the reaper where he stood raising her crop to lift him up. The reaper just rolled his eyes before flaring his aura enveloping him in black aura and breaking the restraint.

"You'll have to do better than that Goodwitch." He said with a grin.

She merely continued to scowl and launched multiple magic lance-like projectiles at him to which he evaded before running at her. She merely used her dust-infused crop to knock him back a few yards where he landed in a standing position.

"Not bad, but now it's my turn _Glynda."_ He said before he disappeared before their eyes.

Ruby smiled and looked to Weiss "I knew he would win." She said leaving the heiress dumbfounded.

"What do you mean he hasn't touched her aura yet." She said looking at the screen.

Glynda not someone to panic in unexpected situations looked for any sign of the Reaper. 'Is this his semblance? Maybe some kind of invisibility.' She thought to herself before he appeared in front of her with a manic smile on his face followed swiftly by a knee to her gut. The knee slightly raised her off the ground and he then slammed his elbow down on the center of her spine driving her all the way to the ground with a loud thud, and Glynda was left momentarily gasping for air.

"That will be enough. The winner of this sparring match was Kyle." Ozpin said with a smile.

Kyle then looked down towards Glynda before offering her a hand up to which she gladly accepted. She then looked at the screen showing aura and saw hers had dipped into the yellow at 28% while the reaper's was in the green at 91%.

"What are you?" She whispered to him as if wanting to her some big secret.

He just smiled before whispering into her ear. "I am the reaper of course, and I apologize for having to harm such a beautiful woman."

At that Glynda blushed. What is happening to her today dear Oum.

When the reaper pulled away he had a smile on his, and then he turned towards the crowd because he still had a stage to set.

"Some of the strongest bonds are formed through combat rather than verbally, so in order to strengthen the bonds of all the partners we will have them facing each other. Weiss Schnee and Ruby Rose from team RWBY please come down and prepare yourselves for battle." The reaper said.

 **A/N: Well I will admit this chapter took a bit of a turn from what it was going to be but I just couldn't help myself. I hope you all enjoy.**

 **Review, follow, favorite, or whatever else you guys do.**

 **I'll see you guys soon Laz out.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY**

 **Another thing that I want to be clear is that I won't likely release anymore chapters in such quick succession, but I thought it would be good to finish this part while it was fresh in my mind.**

Chapter 4: The First Days Classes Part 2

Third Person P.O.V.

"Weiss Schnee and Ruby Rose from team RWBY please come down and prepare yourselves for battle." The reaper said.

The mentioned girls looked towards each other for a brief moment. Weiss had a smug look on her face while Ruby wore a small smile. Then they both stood before making their way down to change into their combat gear. After they both changed, and Weiss grabbed her weapon they took up their places in the arena facing each other, Ruby already had her weapon because she didn't "Want to leave her baby alone."

"Are both combatants ready?" Kyle asked.

"I'm ready enough to win this." Weiss said sounding like it would be simple.

Ruby merely nodded unfurling Crescent Rose into its full glory as Weiss pulled out Myrtenaster and got into her stance.

 _3.._

 _2.._

 _1.._

 _Begin!_

Weiss immediately created a glyph and propelled herself towards the cloaked girl. Ruby tapped into her semblance and rushed to meet her white-clad partner halfway leaving a trail of rose petals in her wake. Weiss went to stab the girl only for her to weave her body to the side bringing her scythe around in a horizontal slash. The heiress quickly made a glyph to block the incoming attack. With her attack being blocked Ruby jumped back changing Crescent Rose into her sniper-rifle mode firing a few shots one of which grazing the heiress's shoulder lowering her aura slightly. Weiss then used her semblance and some dust to fire some ice lances towards her opponent who dodged the first two but was knocked back by the third one. With a grunt she changed her weapon back to its scythe mode and started darting around using her semblance. Weiss tried to track the girl's movements but was caught off guard when Ruby reappeared behind her slashing across her back taking out a chunk of her aura. After repelling Ruby back, she looked at the aura levels to see herself at 72% while Ruby's was at 84%. She scowled at seeing this and activated Myrtenaster's dust chamber stopping on the fire dust causing her rapier to glow red. Meanwhile Ruby was exchanging her regular magazine to one with a cross on it. Suddenly Ruby ran forward shooting behind her using the increased recoil to move faster and went to slash at Weiss again. The heiress knocked the attack away with increased explosive force thanks to the fire dust. Bearing with the heat Ruby used the momentum of the parry to spin Crescent Rose in the same direction that the explosive force sent it hitting her partner with the blunt side of her weapon sending her off her feet and tumbling over a few feet to the side. Never one to waste an opportunity Ruby used her semblance to dash behind the girl and hooked the blade of Crescent Rose around the front of the heiress's body and pushed her against it with the heel of her boot planted on her back causing her aura to rapidly fall.

"That's enough! The winner of this spar is Ruby Rose." The reaper said putting an end to the match before the heiress completely ran out of aura.

Ruby let up on the pressure and moved her scythe away from her partner then folded it up placing it back in its place upon her back. She then held out her hand to Weiss.

"That was a good match Weiss! I haven't been taken this low in a fight in a long time." She said cheerily.

Weiss hearing this looked up at the aura gauges showing Ruby's at 46% and her own at 12%. Despite her pride she took the offered hand to stand up before just looking at her leader with a dumbfounded look on her face.

"Look Weiss I know I don't always act like it, but I am working to be a huntress the same as you are, and while I didn't expect to lead a team I still want to do my best for you all." Ruby said quietly to Weiss with a smile on her face.

The heiress just sighed before saying "I guess you're not so helpless after all, and… I am willing to help you learn to be a better leader if you will forgive my earlier feelings about your position as leader." She said the last part quiet enough to where Ruby had to strain her ears to hear it.

"Oh! Thank you! Thank you Weiss! We're gonna be the best of friends, and best team EVER!" She shouted happily hugging onto the white-haired girl.

"Hey! You dolt just because we are friends doesn't mean I condone physical contact." Weiss said trying and failing to get out of the girls grasp.

"Don't worry you'll get used to it ice queen." The reaper said walking up to the pair. "Now it might be a good time to go back to your seats unless one of you needs to head to the infirmary." He finished.

"Right! Are you hurt Weiss?" Ruby asked suddenly letting go and inspecting her for any injuries.

"Nothing is hurt except my pride, and I have a bit of a headache thanks to the rapid aura depletion, but I shou-" She started before her wrist was grabbed by Ruby who started leading her to the door.

"Nope! You need to rest!" Ruby stated dragging an unwilling Weiss out the door heading to the infirmary.

"Alright that took a bit longer than expected, so which duo wants to go next?" The reaper asked.

 **Break**

 _Infirmary_

After the nurse checked on Weiss she told the girls that she just needed a little bit of rest, and she would be fine. When she left Weiss turned to Ruby looking annoyed. "Why were you so adamant about taking me here? I told you I was fine." She said curtly.

"You're my newest friend and teammate. I had to make sure that you weren't one of the people who will sit there and lie about being wounded because of pride or something." Ruby answered with a serious look.

Weiss for her part was momentarily stunned at the rather mature response coming from her leader even if it did insinuate that she was too prideful. I mean she wasn't saying she wasn't, but it's not that bad. Is it?

"If you were actually injured it would not only negatively affect you but the team as well. We need you Weiss." Ruby said softly.

"Why would you think that I would hide an injury?" Weiss asked somewhat confused and maybe a little hurt that she would think that she'd lie about something like that.

"Because I've done it before." Ruby said with a sigh. "It happened during my training where I took a particularly nasty hit to the head from Gamma."

"What's Gamma?" Weiss asked at the brief pause.

"Gamma is the name of Kyle's cane it's his only blunted weapon, so it's typically the least life-threatening. Anyways after the hit Kyle asked me if I was alright, and I said I was good to keep going even though I had a headache. We continued for another few minutes before I took another hit that I should have been able to avoid. That clued him into the fact that something was wrong. After checking it out we were able to confirm that I had a concussion." She said before going on.

"I didn't know that the headache was a problem at the time, so I unknowingly lied about being alright. Because of that I got worried when you said you had a headache and dragged you here just in case." She finished softly again.

Weiss didn't have anything to say and was genuinely surprised that Ruby cared that much about her well-being when her family never cared that much. It was always about power and perfection in the Schnee household, so Weiss wasn't used to this in the slightest.

"Thank you Ruby." She said finally before trying to give a real smile to the girl. "I'm just not used to people worrying about me in that way I guess."

"Aww Weissssss! That's so sad!" The cloaked girl said before hugging the life out of her partner again.

"E-enough of this incessant hugging you dolt!" Weiss said, but didn't try as hard to remove her as she had earlier. 'I'm scared that he was right, and I will get used to all this contact.' She thought to herself

 **Break**

After the final class of the day ended the RW of RWBY met up with the rest of their team before heading to dinner, and then finally back towards the dorm.

"Wow I am beat guys." Yang said as she jumped up and sprawled out onto her bed.

"Yeah I know that spar took a lot out of me." Blake said referring to her loss to her blonde partner after Ruby and Weiss left. It had been going well until Yang landed a semblance-powered hit knocking her into the red.

"Yeah I haven't had a workout like that since before I got accepted into Beacon." Ruby said hopping up to her own bed.

Weiss merely nodded in agreement before sitting on her bed.

Soon after they reached the conclusion that they were all tired, the members of Team RWBY changed, and some of them showered before falling into a peaceful sleep.

 _With Kyle on another balcony_

The reaper is making another private phone call.

"Hey, are you going to be busy this weekend?"

"I was just thinking it might be a good time for her to meet you, and if possible bring yours too."

"The new café in Vale has some good food from what I hear, and it's fairly private."

"Wonderful. It should be interesting at least I'll see you then Ro."

He then hung up and looked out with a smile before he heard the clicking of heels behind him.

"What can I do for you Glynda?" He asked without looking back.

"I was just wondering what you were doing out here." She said simply.

"I had to make a call is all." Kyle responded before turning towards her and smirking. "And before you ask no it wasn't a girl, so no need to be getting jealous."

"Ugh! Why I'd never care about that." She said before walking off.

'Maybe not, but it got you not to ask who it was.' He thought before walking back to his own room with a small smile.

 **A/N: As I said at the top I didn't expect to be writing this so soon, but whatever just don't expect it to happen again.**

 **For those of you worried about the OC's OPness don't worry too much. Everything has its own purpose in this story and that is included, but I can't say why yet because that'd be spoiling it. No one likes spoilers.**

 **Anyways for real this time Laz Out**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY**

The Reaper and the Informant Part 1

Third Person P.O.V.

 _Friday Afternoon_

The last class of the day, combat class, just let out and the all the students are packing their things up ready to start the weekend. Team RWBY is about to leave before hearing the voice of the reaper.

"Ruby I wanted to talk to you for a minute if you have the time." Kyle said walking up to the four girls.

"Sure, what do you want to talk about?" Ruby asks.

"Well this is more of a private topic, so no offence to your team but they don't need to hear this." Kyle said looking at the other three girls.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!" Yang said starting to get angry with his statement.

"Relax Yang it's fine I'll catch up with you guys later." Ruby said smiling to her teammates and trying to calm her sister down.

"If you say so…" Yang says after a moment. After that the rest of team RWBY walks out all the while Yang is glaring at the reaper. 'Must be trying to make up for lost time with her sister. That or she doesn't trust me in the slightest which isn't really wrong for her to think.' He mused mentally responding to her glare with a smile.

After they left the reaper led Ruby out and down a few halls until they were seemingly alone.

"Alright what is it you wanted to talk about?" Ruby asks curiously.

"I wanted to know if you were busy tomorrow around noon." The reaper said.

"Are you asking out your own student? How scandalous." Ruby mocked.

"Oh please you're a bit too young for me sorry to break it to you, but no I thought it would be a good time to introduce you to my partner." Kyle said.

"So I can finally find out who this informant of yours is?" Ruby asks excited. Kyle had never told her who his partner was or anything about him other than the fact that it was a he.

"Yep I'm meeting them in Vale tomorrow around noon, and like me he also has his own little protégé, so I thought it might be fun for you two to have a playdate." He said with a hint of sarcasm at the end.

"That sounds fun." Ruby said rolling her eyes. "So what's the real reason?"

"There are many stories and legends that are told throughout history. Some of them real others not so much. You already know the story behind your eyes and have even proved it to be true, so I thought it would be good to tell you and his pupil a story." He said simply.

"Another story then? Is it the story of the seasons you said you'd tell me about?"

"No it isn't that one, but I can tell you that one another time. Orrrrrrr I can find someone even better to tell it. It's up to you really." The reaper said.

"Alright then what is it?" she asked.

"You'll learn this weekend I don't want to spoil it." He said with a small chuckle to which his student just huffed.

"Fine fine so is there anything I need to have for this little meetup?" Ruby asked.

"Bring Crescent Rose and remember to not do anything stupid." Kyle said.

"I never do stupid things." The crimsonette muttered.

"There was the glitter disaster earlier this week, the hit from a boarbatusk in Port's class because you were playing with your prey, and don't even get me started on those things you call bunkbeds. When yours falls there will be one less Schnee in the world." He lists off counting on his fingers. "And need I remind you this was all within the past week."

"Hmph." Ruby pouts before laughing. "Alright I'll try to be careful I'd hate to embarrass you." She adds mockingly.

"If you do that we start morning workouts again, and I know how much you loved those."

"Alright sorry! And I gotta go bye!" Ruby responded before running to meet up with her team.

The reaper just laughed and kept walking.

 _Dining Hall_

Ruby walks in and immediately goes to sit with her team.

"So what'd the reaper want?" Yang asked concerned with how long that took.

"Oh nothing much just telling me that I was going with him into Vale tomorrow." Ruby said.

"Why are is he taking you to Vale with him?" Weiss asked.

"Just some private stuff. Don't worry about it." Ruby said as she zipped off to get a plate of cookies before returning.

Yang was growing suspicious while Weiss and Blake seemed indifferent. "Why is it so private? Are you two going on a date? Is he forcing you to be with him?!" Yang asked her voice getting louder by the second as those thoughts started going through her head. She was not going to let her baby sister date a psychotic killer.

Ruby in response just laughed a bit at the question. "No we aren't dating or anything like that, and while he didn't give me much of a choice in the matter I want to go."

"Then what's with the secrecy? We are supposed to be a team we can't have our leader disappearing into Vale with a known murderer for who knows what." Weiss said objecting to the idea.

"Guys really it's nothing to worry about, and Kyle has practically been raising me for the better part of two years, so I trust him completely." Ruby responded trying not to snap at her team.

"I actually agree with them on this one it sounds kinda fishy." Blake said looking up from the book she was reading.

"That's enough! This is my business and doesn't involve you three so just stop! I was just telling you this to let you know where I would be tomorrow not to hear your objections." Ruby said coldly looking at her teammates.

After saying that Ruby left the dining area and went to her dorm to try and relax. After she was gone the three remaining members of team RWBY looked at each other confused at the sudden outburst.

"I don't know about you two, but I'm following her tomorrow. I'm worried now more than ever. The old Ruby would have never been so secretive about something nor would she have gotten mad like that." Yang said with a determined look on her face.

"I will go as well. That dolt is my partner and I need to make sure that she isn't doing anything that will make the team look bad." Weiss stated with finality.

Blake just rolled her eyes before saying "I guess I'll have to go too to keep my own partner in check." Mentally she added 'I'm also curious about where Ruby is going. Damn cat traits.'

With that decided the girls left to join their leader back in their dorm.

 _The Next Morning_

Ruby left around 10 to go find her mentor while the rest of her team went about their business. Weiss was studying, Yang was in the gym doing a short workout, and Blake was reading a book about ninjas and occasionally blushing.

'Hmm… If I were Kyle where would I be right now since I don't have any teaching responsibilities today? Maybe his room?' Ruby thought to herself before making her way to the building the teachers lived in.

 _Knock_

 _Knock_

 _Knock_

The reaper groggily sat up before looking at the time. It was far too early for a Saturday, but then again he had to head into Vale in a few hours anyways. Getting out of bed and walking to the door he looked through the peephole only to find it covered. Sighing he opened the door.

"Ruby why are you here so early I said to meet me out front around 11." He said with a yawn.

"I know but I had to make sure you were awake." She said walking into his room and sitting at his desk chair.

"Relax I had an alarm set for 10:30 so I would have plenty of time to get up and be ready. What's the real reason you're here?"

"Alright you got me. I guess I can't hide anything from you huh? I just wanted to get out and didn't know what to do. My teammates are all doing their own things, and since I was so excited about this and got bored of waiting I decided to come find you early."

"I see I see. Well if you want to head into Vale early we can, but I would make sure your team knows where you'll be. I don't want you to have to deal with an angry heiress, sister, and kitty." He said grabbing some clothes for after his shower.

"Did you say kitty?" Ruby asked.

"Hmm? Oh don't worry about it. You'll figure it out sooner or later." He said dismissively before going into his bathroom.

'Alright then…' she thought before shrugging and plopping onto his recently made bed waiting for him to finish.

Once he was ready to go the two left after Ruby texted her teammates saying she was heading into Vale early. With that they headed to the airship terminal to wait for a ride.

 _With WBY_

After receiving Ruby's text the three girls, Yang had recently returned and changed, left to the terminal intent on finding out what their leader was hiding. When they got there they found Ruby and Kyle waiting for an airship.

 _With Ruby and Kyle_

"The airship is finally here let's get on. We've been standing here for far too long." The reaper said walking onto the airship with his pupil behind him.

After the ride the two made their way into Vale.

"Where is this meeting taking place anyways?" Ruby asked.

"A new café that I looked into. I've already made sure they know that we are coming, so no one will give us a second look." The reaper responded.

"Ohhhh so it's that kind of café, and I would assume it's in the criminal district?" Ruby asked.

"It's on the edge of the criminal and business districts, so technically yes. Anyways I do have to keep my head down while we are in Vale remember. According to what the police have been told I'm forbidden from leaving the school grounds." He said.

"Alright that makes sense." Ruby agreed with a nod.

After a few minutes of quiet walking they found themselves in the heart of the business district.

"Have you noticed?" The reaper asked still looking forward.

"Yes, we've had a few extra shadows since we left Beacon." Ruby answered.

"I'm glad you're getting better at paying attention to your surroundings. After all you sucked at it when we first started." He said with a real smile to his apprentice.

"Yeah I did, and I was even worse when I was the one being a shadow. It helped when I took the cloak off of course." She said remembering the start of her stealth training.

"Let's see since we are here early why not have a little fun with them?" The reaper said with a cold smile.

"That sounds very fun shall we race?" Ruby responded with a smile of her own.

"That sounds fun. I told you where the café is already, so let's see who they are more inclined to follow."

"Alright I'll see when you get there." She said challengingly.

"Is someone getting overconfident? Well I'd love to knock you down a peg, but I think a nice stroll in some of the alley ways will do it for me today." He said.

With that the two separated with Ruby running in one direction, and Kyle ducking into a nearby alley.

"Where the hell are they going I thought they were doing something together." Yang said as she started running to where the two had been.

"They might've noticed us following them and decided to give us the slip." Blake said calmly looking around.

"Who should we follow? We need to be quick about this." Weiss said.

"I'm going after Ruby." Yang said

"I will follow the reaper." Blake said thinking to herself 'In the darker alleyways my night vision would be useful.'

"I will go after my partner with the brute." Weiss said.

With that the two teams dispersed. Yang and Weiss following the quickly fading trail of petals, and Blake running into the alleyways.

As he wasn't really running, but rather strolling through the network of alleys Blake found her target first.

"Ahh I see the kitty cat decided to follow me." The reaper said facing her.

When he said this Blake froze. "W-what are you talking about?"

"Oh please you don't hide it as well as you think. The bow twitching at seemingly random times, and your eyes just remind me of a cat's eyes." The reaper said with a shrug.

"Have you told anyone?" Blake asked growing nervous.

"About what? The faunas in hiding. Or perhaps the former white fang member?" He said with a smile.

"How did you know about that? I never told anyone about that not even the headmaster." She said.

"Well I heard that there was a recent deserter that was close with some of the White Fang's top dogs. Excuse the dog remark. And after looking into it a little more and seeing your ears twitch when I mentioned the White Fang when we first met just helped finish the puzzle." He said rather bored.

"I will ask you one more time. Have you told anyone?" Blake said coldly her hand drawing near to her weapon Gambol Shroud.

"Who can say?" The reaper asked with a grin before disappearing down a nearby alley. When she got to the alley entrance she couldn't find any trace of him.

"Dammit!" She said before calling the other two.

 _With Yang and Weiss_

"Come on and hurry up princess! The petals fade pretty quickly." Yang shouted as she ran following the rose petal trail.

"I can see that you brute! There is a problem with this blindly chasing the petal trail idea of yours." Weiss said slowing down.

"And what problem would that be?" Yang asks annoyed after stopping to look at her teammate.

"Look at where we are. We have been chasing this trail for the past few minutes and we are back in the area we started in. She led us in a circle." Weiss said gesturing around them.

"So Weiss was the first to figure it out huh?" A happy voice chirped.

"What?!" The two said at the same time looking up at the sound of the voice and seeing their red-cloaked leader sitting at the top of a lamppost.

"I'm surprised it took you both so long you ran in this circle three times already." She says with a giggle.

"Just tell us where you're going Ruby." Yang said looking towards her sister.

"No I'll pass on that one but thanks though this was fun. If I'm not careful Kyle may beat me to our location, so I gotta take off now." Ruby said before bursting into rose petals and reappearing at the top of a nearby building. She waved at them before running off.

"Oum dammit!" Yang said before hearing her scroll go off and seeing it was a call from Blake.

"Hey did you guys track Ruby? I lost the reaper." Blake asked.

"No we were led on a wild goose chase." Yang sighed.

"She never used to be this skilled with her semblance. It's amazing what can change in two years. Anyways we are where we started, so come meet up with us and let's find something to eat I doubt we will find those two again." Yang said to her partner and Weiss.

 _At the Café_

Ruby showed up at the front entrance of a nice little café that she found her mentor waiting at.

"Aww I played around too much and got beat here." Ruby says crestfallen.

"Yep sometimes time flies when we are having fun." The reaper nodded knowingly before continuing, "Let's head in the other two should be here soon."

"Alright."

The two go into the café and find a nice corner booth to sit in with a view of the front door. After a few minutes pass Ruby is reading the menu specifically looking at the desserts while Kyle is looking towards the door lazily.

The door opens and a man wearing a white coat and black pants with orange hair and a bowler's cap enters with a shorter girl with pink, white, and brown colored hair and a parasol following close behind. The man sees Kyle and walks up to the booth he is at ignoring the restaurant attendant. When he gets closer he sees the person next to Kyle and says "Red?"

At the sound of his voice Ruby looks up and is shocked to see Roman Torchwick looking at her. She quickly reaches for her scythe before Kyle motions for her to relax.

"I suppose introductions are in order. Ruby this is my informant and old friend Roman. Roman this is my protégé although I believe you two have already met." The reaper said failing to hide the smile on his face.

"Wait a minute. You're the reason she was in that dust store that night." Roman said with a frown. "You sent your little pupil to the store I was going to rob and had her fight me."

"Right and wrong. I did send her to buy dust, and may have suggested that store, but I didn't say anything about a fight." Kyle said with a mischievous grin.

Ruby just sat in shocked awe as she processed the fact that not only was her teacher friends with the person she fought, but also the fact that he pretty much planned for them to fight each other.

Roman on the other hand just sighed and brought his hand to his face. "This is just the type of thing you'd do I shouldn't even be surprised. Whatever you introduced your pupil, so I will introduce mine." Roman said gesturing behind him to the girl who was silently laughing at what was in front of her.

"This everyone is Neo. Neo the guy is the reaper my partner, and the girl is his student." He said finishing the introductions.

Neo just looked at the reaper and then the red-cloaked girl and smiled.

"Alright now everyone sit down we have a lot to talk about." Kyle said gesturing to the empty half of the booth.

When they both sat down the reaper looked to Roman before looking to the girls and smiled.

"Now girls what's your favorite story?" The reaper asked.

 **A/N: Hey guys sorry it took so long to get this out I just never got around to sitting down and writing it until now. Anyways just for my own curiosity I want to know how many of you guessed it would be Roman. Huh? Huh? And to just get this out there I am not referring to everything as fairy tales because this isn't a children's fairy tale but rather a story of old.**

 **Follow, Review, Favorite, or whatever you all do.**

 **Later peoples Laz out!**

 **P.S. anyone who celebrates Easter Happy Easter**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY**

 **I said I wouldn't do this again... I guess I lied oh well.**

The Reaper and The Informant Part 2

"Now girls what's your favorite story?" The reaper asked.

Ruby smiled before saying "Well mine would have to be the one about silver eyes, and you already know why."

Neo started writing something out before Kyle spoke up. "Wait Neo you can't talk can you?" She shook her head in a negative. Kyle just looked at Roman who was grinning. "You chose a mute to be your mark? Why must you make life so difficult?"

At that Roman just snickered to himself while Neo flipped Kyle off. "Well what can I say I saw something in this ice-cream themed girl. That or I was hungry at the time who can say." Roman said with a shrug while Neo elbowed him.

"Why does it matter if she's a mute?" Ruby asked genuinely curious. Kyle just sighed.

"This has to do with the story we are going to tell you two in the next few minutes." Roman said with a large grin currently enjoying Kyle's reaction.

"We might as well get started on this and it might make a bit more sense." Kyle said.

"There is an old legend about a tribe of killers who went from town to town killing anyone who crossed their paths. They were said to do it purely because they enjoyed it, so simply put they let their bloodlust guide them. Well one day one of the members born into the tribe decided they didn't like the way the tribe functioned with the senseless killing. That young boy pleaded with the leaders of the tribe to try and evoke change, but the leaders didn't care for that attitude and gave him a warning saying that if he went against the tribe again he would be the next one to die. The boy didn't know what to do at that point for fear of what may happen to him if he stepped out of line again, so he kept his thoughts to himself and continued on as normal.

During the next raid the boy was running through the town half-heartedly killing the villagers before he came across a lady kneeling on the ground with her hands clasped together. Curious he walked into the small building she was in and asked her what she was doing. The woman backed away in fear of the boy, and when he saw this he put his weapon away and held his hands up indicating he wasn't going to try anything. He then asked again, and she warily responded saying that she was praying to be spared. This confused the boy who had never heard of praying. Seeing his confusion, she decided to explain what praying was and that she was praying to Oum the god of this world.

As she sat there explaining, the sounds of screams outside finally died down. The leaders then went through the town to make sure they had everyone or at least saw who had died, and one came across the young boy with a villager who was still alive. When the leader saw the two he told the kid to hurry up and kill the woman since she was one of the last survivors. The boy looked between the leader and the now terrified woman but didn't move from his spot. The leader yelled at the kid again telling him to kill her or else he would be punished. Even with the threat the boy didn't move. Losing his patience, the leader walked over and pushed the kid to the side before killing the woman. After he had done that he knocked the kid out and carried him over his shoulder to the rest of the tribe.

After discussing with the other leaders what his punishment would be the leaders decided that they would have an open execution the next day to show the rest of the tribe what happens when someone goes against the way of the tribe. After they told the boy of his fate they locked him in one of the rooms in the village they had just ransacked. The tribe always would stay the night at the village they attacked and celebrate before moving on.

The young boy couldn't do anything, so he sat in despair for a while before remembering the lady and what she had been doing. With nothing to lose the young boy knelt down onto his knees and prayed to the god he had been briefly told about. After a few hours he fell asleep and woke up before the sun had risen. The boy who had fallen asleep on his back sat up and heard something clatter to the floor. Looking through the dark to see what it was he found a simple white mask. Feeling drawn to the mask the boy picked it up and put it on. Suddenly the boy's mind went blank and he heard a voice telling him that if he wanted to live then he would live by Oum's grace and follow his divine will. After accepting what the voice in his head said the voice told him what he had to do, and while the thought would normally horrify him he felt perfectly fine with it.

How it was done no one can say for sure, but after that day the tribe of killers seemed to vanish from the face of Remnant, and a young masked boy would appear and disappear from place to place killing certain people. He was named "Reaper" by the people." Kyle finished. He then looked to the two girls and asked, "So what do you think of that story?"

Ruby asked the question the two had been expecting. "Were you the young boy? Are you immortal or something?"

"No not at all. The first reaper was a normal person just like everyone else, so like everyone else he eventually died." Kyle said chuckling a bit.

'So why did you tell us this story?' Neo types into her scroll.

"That is the key question. After the first reaper died his mask found a new owner, and like the first reaper a voice would also speak into his mind whenever the mask was donned in order to give them assignments, but this voice was different from the first. Eventually as time passed the owner of the voice and the reaper met with each other. This told them both that for whatever reason they had been picked. The voice to give the reaper a task and the reaper to fulfill said task. I told you this story to tell you about the partnership between Roman and I." Kyle said looking at Neo.

"How do you know all of that? You talk about it with such certainty, but I have never even heard of this legend." Ruby asked.

"Well you haven't heard about it because the original story died off a long time ago, and the reason I know it is because of the mask here." He said gesturing to his mask. "From what I've personally experienced it seems that whenever a new reaper dons the mask for the first time they are shown memories from the past reapers and it also makes a connection to the one who is to be their partner. It was a jumbled mess at first and left me knocked out for a few hours, but as time passed I figured out that the memories only seemed to involve the time a new reaper was chosen to the time he died. As an extension I learned the rules the reaper must follow, and what happens when the rules aren't followed." He finished.

'Alright why tell us specifically?' Neo typed.

"Because over time it was learned that instead of the mask going to someone random it can be passed on in a sense." Roman said finally contributing.

"Yes, the reaper and informant duo are linked together. What that means is that when one dies the other also dies. When that happens if each member of the duo has selected a successor then the roles will be passed to the successors respectively."

"So that's another mystery of the mark solved." Ruby said placing her hand over her mark and smiling.

"Yes, and I've been told that you have a mark as well Neo. Is that correct?" Kyle asked.

Neo just nodded and held out the back of her hand for them to see showing a mark that had a cane and an ice-cream cone. (How original)

"That's good, but now that the story has been told and marks somewhat explained do you two have any more questions?" The reaper asked.

'Is it annoying having his voice in your head? Because he is annoying the rest of the time.' Neo typed eliciting a snort from the reaper and an annoyed huff from his informant.

"You have no idea, but luckily I only hear it when I'm wearing the mask or when I have a new contract." Kyle answered.

"Wait how are the contracts picked is it whatever the informant wants?" Ruby asks.

"No Red. I have no clue where the contracts come from they just come to me, but I also share the memories of my predecessors, and some of them have tried giving their own contracts like you just suggested. Whenever that happens the mask tells the reaper that the new contract is their informant, and as a result the duo perishes. If that wasn't the case I would be sending Kyle here to take care of my boss." Roman said with a sigh.

After a few moments of silence, the reaper decides to finish this conversation.

"Well is there anything else you two want to ask before we head out?" he asked.

"Maybe later I'm still processing a lot of what I've just heard." Ruby said with Neo nodding in agreement.

"Wonderful now kiddies let's run along before anyone sees two of the most wanted men in Vale together with some children." Roman says standing up. Kyle does the same after paying for the drink he had ordered a while ago. The two girls just looked at each other confused before looking to the older duo.

"Where are we going?" Ruby asked.

"You remember the first combat class I taught you all? What did I say before selecting you and your partner for the first spar?" Kyle asked.

"You said something about… bonds formed through… combat." Ruby said in realization.

"Exactly! When we pass the torch so to speak you don't want to have to worry about your partner being a weak link, so it makes sense that you two learn more about each other this way, and it isn't uncommon for informant and reaper to fight together when necessary. He said leading the group out the door with Roman next to him.

With that the group walked into the criminal district looking for a good place to have the two protégés spar.

 _With WBY_

"Yang you brute! Why would you suggest a bar on this side of town in the middle of the day as a place to eat?" The heiress fumed after dragging her blonde teammate away from the multiple people pointing guns at them.

"What? The guy who owns the bar is an old friend of mine." Yang said looking at the heiress.

"What is your definition of the word friend?" Blake asked looking at the men in black with red ties and matching shades still watching them warily.

Yang was about to respond when she saw a flash of red on the other side of the street. "Hey, isn't that Ruby and Kyle with two other people?"

Her teammates looked to where she was looking and saw a red and a black cloak turn a corner.

"Let's get them they seem to be distracted." Yang said restarting their little game of shadowing.

 _With Ruby and others_

Ruby sighs. "I didn't think they'd be in this part of town, and now we have shadows again."

"Yeah I didn't think they'd be dumb enough to be in this area of the town for no reason." Kyle said.

"Who are they? We can just kill them if need be." Roman said tightening the grip on his cane.

"They're my team from Beacon, and there is no need to kill them. That'd be a bit much for just following us." Ruby said quickly.

"She's right and from what we saw earlier they aren't very good at tracking, so we can just lose them." Kyle added.

"Well if that's the case then Neo if you would?" Roman said.

Neo just nodded before grabbing all of their hands and using her semblance leaving a reflection of the four of them where they just were and teleporting to a nearby warehouse.

Kyle whistles. "I can see what you saw in her that's one hell of a semblance. You got a capable partner and she isn't sore on the eyes like mine is." He finishes with a jab at his partner who scoffs.

"Yea that was so cool Neo! And he's right you're really cute I love your hair!" Ruby said happily jumping up and down still holding Neo's hand who was blushing slightly at the praise before regaining her composure. Roman just had a smirk on his face that said, 'I told you so.'

Looking around at the empty warehouse Kyle decided this would do.

"Alright girls this should work, so let's do this thing. Before we do any type of team fighting you two will have a nice little one on one." He said looking to the two girls.

"Alright." Ruby said happily heading over to one side of the room to face off against Neo who sauntered over to her place while twirling her parasol.

"You and your student are so similar when it comes to the theatrics it's actually kind of frightening." Kyle said.

"And you and your disciple have very similar habits when killing." Roman responded.

"You've seen her kill?" Kyle asked with a raised eyebrow.

"She offed a few of Junior's men that I had working with me on that dust job." He said casually.

'Ruby killed them, and Professor Ozpin still let her into his school… He must be losing that chess match of his if he's that desperate.' The reaper thought with a chuckle.

"Alright you two do your thing. As it stands I imagine you have no idea how each other fights, so we will be overseeing the match to make sure things stay 'safe'." The reaper said air-quoting the last part.

"Since I do have things to do later let's get this started. Begin!" Roman yelled tapping his cane on the floor.

Unlike her fight with Weiss Ruby didn't have any real idea about how her opponent fought, so she decided to take it a bit slower. Meanwhile Neo just smirked and held her parasol over her shoulder waiting for Ruby to make the first move. Realizing Neo would probably just keep waiting Ruby unfurled her scythe and stuck the tip into the ground before firing a few rounds at her opponent. Neo just dodged each bullet with a twirl or blocked them with her parasol.

'So, her weapon is the umbrella, and even better bullet proof' Ruby sighed. 'New plan.' "Let's see what you got Neo." She said before dashing forward.

Neo just held her smirk as Ruby brought her scythe around and blocked the side slash with her parasol, but she didn't anticipate the full force behind the attack and was pushed back slightly. 'Let's not get hit by that.' She thought before kicking out towards Ruby's stomach only to be met with the shaft of her weapon. Neo, even though she hit the scythe instead of her target pushed off and did a backflip gracefully landing a few feet away.

Ruby smiled 'This will be more fun than the fight with Weiss. Neo is strong.' With that thought Ruby tapped into her semblance darting around looking for an opening in her opponent's defense. She then rushed Neo from the left swinging her scythe around towards her back only for Neo to block with her parasol again. Expecting the block this time Ruby smiled and pulled the trigger. The unexpected force from the scythe pushed her opponent back.

Neo was somewhat startled to say the least, but quickly decided that maybe it was time for a more offensive style. She stood there with her parasol and smiled again looking at her opponent.

Ruby went for the same style of attack coming directly behind Neo and swinging down only for the image to shatter like glass. Suddenly she was hit in the gut by Neo's parasol and then said girl quickly followed up with a flurry of kicks most of which Ruby didn't dodge. After the onslaught ended momentarily Ruby jumped back to catch her breath. 'I can't believe I forgot about her semblance. I was gushing over it like two minutes ago! Oh well if that is how she wants to do this then let's dance.' Ruby then returns the ever-present smirk that Neo was wearing before disappearing into a flurry of rose petals. Ruby began running in a coiling circle around her opponent while switching magazines to the cross one. When the magazine was switched she jumped away from the flurry of petals surrounding Neo and also obscuring her vision. Ruby then activated her semblance again and pulled the trigger shooting forward.

Neo was looking through the petal storm trying to find her opponent when she heard the loud shot and suddenly felt her right side get hit. Before she could do anything, she heard another shot and felt a hit from her front. Deciding to stop this little game she used her semblance again to teleport away from the petal storm.

As the petals finally faded it showed both opponents panting slightly. Ruby from the constant use of her semblance, and Neo from a mix of the recent hits and the large amount of aura it took to use her semblance multiple times. Ruby got ready to charge while Neo activated the blade in her parasol making it stick out the top. Ruby charged and was about to slash down when she felt her scythe resist her movement. Looking up she found Kyle's hand holding the shaft of the scythe back. When she looked forward she saw a similar situation with Neo's parasol being hooked around Roman's cane.

"Well that was definitely fun to watch wouldn't you agree Roman?" The reaper asked taking his hand off Crescent Rose.

"Yes, I'm surprised Neo took so many hits and had to use her semblance twice. That's three times today." Roman said nodding in agreement.

Ruby put away Crescent Rose and smiled at Neo. "Now that… was a good fight."

Neo just nodded and returned the smile.

"This has been a fun and somewhat tiring day. I'm sure you would like to spar with Neo again sometime isn't that right Ruby?" Kyle asked.

"Yes! I definitely want to spar with you again." She said looking at the multi-colored girl.

Neo nodded and typed 'I definitely don't want to stay at a draw, so we have to spar again so I can beat your ass.' She then winked playfully causing Ruby to blush at the way she delivered that.

"Well good. If you guys want to spar more often Roman and I can work out times and places, but for now we should get back to Beacon. Oh, and I'll tell you both to remember as far as anyone outside of this room knows you two are enemies, so you will have to act like it if it comes to it. Knowing my protégé and her knack for trouble that is a definite possibility." The reaper said. The two girls nodded, and Kyle and Ruby started walking away and giving a wave to the other two.

The walk back was fairly quiet, and the sun had begun to set.

"Aren't you glad you came with me today?" Kyle asked with a grin.

"Yes! I learned quite a bit and made a new friend, and in the spars I will have a chance to kick Roman's ass again." Ruby smiled mischievously.

"That's not what I heard happened. I heard he was about to blow you off the roof when Glynda stepped in to save you." He said.

"Hmph! I'll show you I can take him next time then." She said defiantly.

"Right. Right. Are you ready to deal with your team? Judging by their reaction when they found us the second time I would imagine they didn't recognize Roman in the brief moments they were following us, but they will still hound you for answers."

"I'm not sure, but I definitely won't be telling them about anything from the café or the people we were with. Maybe I can tell them that I was out at a café without saying anything important. If I'm feeling daring I might say you were trying to set me up with someone." She said cheekily.

"Please don't push them on me I'm far too tired to deal with them, so they might get hurt." He said with a sigh.

"I'll decide what I do when it comes to it, but right now I'm exhausted so…" She said before jumping onto his back and almost toppling him over.

"Are you really doing this again? I'm not sure if you realize, but this will look bad for both of us if we get back to Beacon with you on my back." He said still walking.

"You already look bad to everyone there, and I'm too tired to care." She responded.

"Don't even sugarcoat it damn Ruby, but whatever it's not like opinions have ever really mattered in my line of work." He grunted shifting her around on his back trying to get comfortable.

After they got back to Beacon they received a few weird looks from student and teacher alike, but the reaper didn't really care, and Ruby had fallen asleep. When he got to her dorm he kicked at the door. When it opened it revealed a briefly shocked but quickly angry Yang Xiao Long. Before she could say anything, he shushed her indicating with his head to the girl asleep on his back. After walking her in and setting her on top of her bed he turned to leave but was stopped by her three teammates.

"Where were you all day with my little sister?!" Yang hissed.

Sighing the reaper looked at all of them. Such a long day. "She can tell you when she wakes up in the morning, but for now I have an appointment with my own bed." He said walking around them before he felt a hand grip his wrist. When he looked over he saw it was the blonde brawler… again.

"What is it now?" He said tiredly.

"I want to know why it was such a big secret that she even refused to tell us! Her team!" Yang said angrily.

"Because…" He smiles as he takes his hand from her grip, "it involves our relationship." 'She will have fun explaining that.'

Before his words could fully register he had already disappeared out the door.

Just as he got outside of the student dorm he heard a scream "REAPER!". He just smiled and went back to his own room.

 **A/N: Well that was fun, but I'm tired now, and curious on what you guys think. I know where the story is going, but for now I wanted to know if you guys want me to go through Jaune's little arc, or skip straight to Blake's reveal. I don't care for Jaune's arc as much in this story, but I want to know what you all think.**

 **And Sm0key Panda eyy I love that pairing too.**

 **Enjoy fellow RWBY lovers Laz out.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY**

The Next Step

 _Saturday Afternoon_

 _Vale_

"So remind me, why are we spending a nice day like today out at the docks?" Yang asked.

"Some students from the other kingdoms are supposed to be arriving today for the Vytal Festival, and as Beacon students it is our responsibility to welcome them." Weiss answered.

"Translation: 'She wants to spy on the other teams in the tournament.'" Ruby said. Yang laughed while the heiress denied the claim. Blake had a small smile herself at the heiress's dilemma.

The team then saw caution tape around a dust store's entrance. Two officers were standing in front of the store talking about the robbery that took place.

"That's the third dust shop this week. Who needs that much dust?" One asked.

"You thinking the White Fang?" The second asked.

"I'm thinking we don't get paid enough to figure that out." The first responded.

Back with the girls Weiss had her own two lien. "The White Fang, what a good for nothing group of degenerates."

"What's your problem?" Blake asked the heiress with a slight scowl.

"I'm just not a fan of the criminally insane." Weiss responded.

"The White Fang are hardly a group of psychopaths. They're just a collection of misguided faunas." Blake defended.

"They are terrorists Blake." Weiss deadpanned.

"Okay maybe they're very misguided."

Before the conversation could continue the group heard shouting from the docks. "Hey! Get back here you no-good stowaway." A sailor yelled.

A blonde-haired boy with a white unbuttoned shirt and partially rolled up jeans was hanging upside down from a streetlamp by his tail eating a banana. "Hey! I'm a great stowaway a no-good stowaway would have been caught." He said with a grin before throwing the banana peel at the officers who had come to try and capture him. He then jumped past the cops and ran past team RWBY winking at Blake before tripping. Looking up he was met with a look that spelled his death from the red-cloaked girl who was standing closest to him. The monkey-boy ran away as fast as he could without looking back.

'I did it! Kyle wasn't kidding about how potent focused bloodlust can be if the way that guy took off said anything.' Ruby thought after sealing up her bloodlust and giving the other girls a happy face. Luckily for her they didn't seem to notice any change.

"I wonder what got him so spooked." Yang said before looking at Weiss. "You wanted to see the competition princess well there it goes."

Weiss reacted quickly, "Quick! We must observe him!" She said before running in the direction he went. The rest of her team followed before running into someone quite literally.

Weiss as she rounded the corner ran and consequently fell right on top of a green and gray dressed girl. Upon noticing Weiss jumped up and apologized.

"Oh no are you okay?" Ruby asked the girl.

"I'm great thank you for asking!" The girl responded still lying on the ground.

"Do you want to get up?"

"Yes!" said girl replied before jumping to her feet.

After a strange conversation with the girl they learned was named Penny the four girls decided to leave, but not before saying goodbye. "See you later friend." Ruby said with a wave.

Before the group made it ten feet the orange-haired girl appeared back in front of them.

"What did you call me?" She asked.

Yang thought that the girl had heard what she had whispered about the girl being weird and started apologizing before being stopped.

"Not you. You." She said pointing to Ruby.

Ruby was confused. What did she do? Then the girl continued "You called me friend. Am I really your friend?"

"Umm…" Ruby looked past the girl to her teammates who were shaking their heads 'no' before finishing "Sure?"

"Sensational! Then we can do each other's hair and paint each other's nails." She said excitedly continuing to list off activities.

Ruby meanwhile was thinking, 'Oh my Oum this sounds like something I would say. Am I really that awkward?' After the girl had stopped talking Ruby looked to where her teammates were for help only to find they had disappeared. 'Curse them those traitors!'

She then looked towards the other side of the street and saw a familiar head of hair.

"Hey Penny, I'm sorry to cut this short, but I have to meet up with a friend of mine. I will see you around." She said waving and running across the street.

"Alright bye friend Ruby." The girl waved before continuing her walk.

"Hey Neo!" Ruby yelled tackling said girl to the ground.

Neo just looked up at the silver eyes of Ruby before rolling her eyes and motioning for the other girl to get off of her.

"Sorry about that it's just I haven't seen you in a while, and you just gave me an out to an awkward situation." Ruby said sheepishly helping Neo up. Before she could respond to any of that Ruby kept on talking, "What are you doing here anyways? Torchwick said you were busy this weekend."

Neo pulled out her scroll and typed, "I was practicing something, so that's what I was doing."

"Oh? What were you practicing?" Ruby asked curiously.

Neo did her silent laugh thing before pointing at Ruby.

"Wait were you spying on me? But I didn't notice at all!" Ruby said shocked.

"I've had a lot of practice over the years, so I'm not so easy to catch." She winked after typing.

"Well maybe I will have to give it a shot of my own I like a challenge." Ruby said with a smirk.

Neo rolled her eyes, and before she could type out a response Ruby changed topics.

"Do you want to get something to eat? I'm hungry."

Neo shrugged and nodded an affirmation.

"Where do you want to go?" Ruby asked.

Neo started typing but was interrupted. "Wait let me guess the Ice Cream place." Ruby said

Neo just nodded and started leading the way. Ruby had spent enough time to know that the ice cream-themed girl loved the stuff.

 _With WBY_

After leaving their leader high and dry the girls looked around once more but couldn't find a trace of the monkey boy.

"Well so much for that." Yang said shrugging. "Maybe we should see how Ruby is doing I feel kind of bad leaving my little sister alone in Vale with a stranger."

"Why're you so concerned? The girl albeit very strange seemed nice enough." Weiss said.

"Well the last times she was alone in Vale she fought an infamous criminal at a dust robbery and became the apprentice of the most dangerous teacher I've ever had." Yang said with a sigh.

"Yeah maybe we should go check on her." Blake said now somewhat concerned. She wasn't concerned for Ruby's safety, but rather what could happen involving the girl. She couldn't figure out why, but the young leader made her uneasy.

"Alright then let's get back she couldn't have gone far." Weiss said leading them back the way they came.

"Alright she's not here and neither is the other girl." Blake said looking around for any glimpse of their red-cloaked leader.

"Alright now I'm starting to worry let's find my sister." Yang said walking on. The others followed.

 _With Ruby and Neo_

"So what flavor are you gonna get?" Ruby asked her partner in cream.

Neo brought her hand to her chin to show she was thinking before pointing to birthday cake flavor.

"What made you pick that flavor? You always pick strawberry or Neapolitan."

Neo just shrugged innocently before looking away.

"Wait… Neo is it your birthday?"

Neo made a sighing motion before typing "Yes, it is, but I never celebrate it."

"Oh my gosh why not?!" Ruby asked after they ordered.

Neo just shrugged before typing "My line of work doesn't really allow for distractions like that, and I don't have any friends outside of Roman anyways, so…"

"That is unacceptable!" Ruby shouted drawing looks from the other customers. "Sorry heh heh."

Neo just raised an eyebrow in question.

"We are celebrating your birthday today and that is final. How old are you turning anyways?" Ruby asked.

"17" She typed simply.

"Only 17? But I've seen you drinking before isn't that illegal?" Ruby asked innocently.

The two stared at each other for a second before they burst out laughing although only one made any noise.

"It's your birthday, so what do you want to do?" Ruby asked.

Neo just shrugged sadly. "I can't do anything I have to get ready for a heist tonight."

"If I were to help you get ready faster then you would have free time right?" Ruby asked.

Neo thought before nodding.

"Alright Plan: Make this the bestest Birthday EVER is a go!" Ruby shouted drawing attention again. This time however Neo just laughed before typing, "Thank you, but you don't have to do anything."

"No. No. No. I'm doing this because I want to, so you will be a good sport and accept that today will be great." Ruby declared with determination in her eyes.

Neo just sighed before nodding. 'This should be an interesting day.'

After that was decided they finished their ice cream before walking outside.

"So what do you need to do first?" Ruby asked.

"First thing I have to do is pick up my parasol it was getting a new blade put in." She typed walking towards the shadier side of town.

"Oh is there something special about the new blade?" The weapon nut asked.

Neo shook her head and typed, "Nothing really special just a stronger material."

After that the girls walked in a comfortable silence for a few minutes.

"Doesn't typing everything get annoying?" Ruby asked out of the blue.

Neo just nodded.

"Then is there another way you communicate?" She asked.

"Yes if the other person knows it then I usually use sign language." She typed.

"Oh that sounds cool would you teach it to me? I don't want to be annoying." She said giving her puppy dog eyes.

Neo couldn't resist and just nodded with her mouth agape. She quickly regained her composure and returned to her smug grin. "I will make sure you learn it, but I will teach it how I want."

'That smile of hers is actually frightening what'd I sign up for.' Ruby thought as she walked into the store Neo entered. The store wasn't anything special just a simple weapon's shop, but Ruby being the weapon nut she is was looking over everything in the store while Neo just went to retrieve her parasol.

After they left Ruby started asking questions again. "What's next?"

Neo thought before shrugging. That hadn't taken long, and she was just going to relax before the heist anyways, so she had nothing. "That was the most important thing I had to do."

"Alright then it is time." Ruby put her arm around Neo's shoulder and gestured with her hand, "To have the greatest day EVER!"

Neo finally accepting her fate nodded and threw her fist up.

"Alright first things first what do you like to do for fun?" The red reaper asked.

"I do love torturing people." Neo typed with a smile.

Ruby quickly thought of a response to that but said something different before she lingered on the thought too long and started blushing. "H-how often do you do that Neo?"

Neo noticed the stutter but thought it was because Ruby was surprised that she enjoyed torturing people. That was not the reason. "Maybe a few times a week." Neo shrugged hoping her red-clad partner wasn't disgusted with that side of her. The girl was training to be a huntress after all.

"Then we can't do that it isn't special enough." Ruby said seemingly unfazed about the girl's activities. "This has to be special think. What can we do that will make this a memorable event?"

Neo couldn't really think of anything, but Ruby had an interesting idea.

Ruby held out her hand to the girl and bowed slightly. "Would you like to accompany me on a date?"

If she was honest this caught Neo off guard and she stared in shock at the girl bowing before her. Ruby looked up to see Neo in shock. "I mean we don't have to if you don't want to I was just trying to think of something special and I was like 'hey maybe asking her on a date on her birthday would be special and memorable and-"

Ruby's rambling was stopped by a flick on her forehead and looking up she saw Neo take her hand and hold out her scroll that just said "Yes."

Ruby smiled and lead the girl to somewhere she thought might be fun. They went off and found a park, but as nice as it was she and Neo both found themselves bored.

"Maybe this wasn't the best place to go it's so boring." Ruby said with a sigh.

Neo thought for a moment before smiling "How do you feel about messing with people?"

Ruby smiled deviously "It's my favorite pastime after working on Crescent Rose."

Neo just took her hand and they teleported away.

 _With WBY_

The search for their young leader hadn't lasted long before the W and B started arguing about faunas again. Instead of drawing more attention Yang got them back to Beacon so they could bicker in private. As things got heated no one was ready for what was said.

"Do you know why I hate the White Fang? Why I don't particularly trust the faunas? It's because they've been at war with my family for years. War as in actual bloodshed. I grew up watching family, friends, and company members simply disappear only to find out later that they had been killed by the White Fang, and that made growing up in the Schnee house difficult. My father would come home furious every night, and that made for a miserable childhood." Weiss said venomously.

"Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!" Blake yelled before freezing. With her teammates that were present stunned she did what she did best and ran.

Recovering Yang said quickly, "Oh shit!", and tried texting Ruby again explaining what happened. She then grabbed Weiss and started running after Blake.

 _With Ruby and Neo_

Neo had teleported the two of them to the warehouse Neo and Roman had been working at with the White Fang members going about their business.

Neo quickly typed out, "How do you feel about pranking some of my 'co-workers'?"

"I would love to it sounds like a perfect first date." Ruby said rolling her eyes, but obviously excited.

With that the two snuck onto the rafters of the warehouse and started sneaking above the people below. Ruby had a "great" idea for their first prank. "Psst. Neo how do you feel about changing the colors of some of their uniforms?" Ruby whispered although they were high enough to where she didn't actually need to.

"What did you have in mind?" Neo typed.

Ruby just smiled and pulled out two buckets full of glitter. 'Where was she hiding those? More importantly why did she have those on hand?' Neo asked herself as she was handed a bucket.

The two worked their way slightly apart to make sure and cover as many of the grunts as possible. That was until Ruby saw someone else among the grunts barking out orders. With a mischievous smile Ruby signaled Neo to come over. When Neo saw where Ruby was looking she grinned and nodded. The two made their way in the rafters to above where one Roman Torchwick was standing talking to two of the grunts. Probably berating them and calling them incompetent.

The two then nodded to each other and dumped out the glitter which went everywhere covering everyone in the area.

Roman was having a headache-inducing day with the mutts of the White Fang, his boss being a bitch, and the fact that Neo hadn't returned yet. Then it got worse as his world was covered in a silver color. When everything settled he looked at himself and froze. Everything was covered in GLITTER! Then he looked up and saw the flash of Neo's semblance. "NEOOOOOOO!"

The two could hear the scream from where they teleported to and laughed with each other.

After that they were bored again with nothing interesting around.

"Hey when is that heist you have tonight?" Ruby asked.

"It's supposed to start around ten, but I have to be ready to go by nine." Neo typed.

"Alright now it's time to celebrate follow me!" Ruby declared before starting to walk.

When she caught up Neo typed out a question, "What are we doing exactly?"

"Something special." Ruby said. She had made the preparations earlier during a lull in their activities. "First things first is we need some evening wear, and as much as it pains me that means shopping."

Neo quirked an eyebrow in question before following.

After looking through a few stores they both found something nice to wear that fit both their styles. Ruby had a simple crimson red dress that faded black near the bottom of it where it ended at her knees. She also wore a pair of black flats because she adamantly refused to look at anything even resembling heels. With the addition of her belt that held Crescent Rose her outfit was complete. Neo's outfit took a bit more time to find because of her "unique" style, but she found a dress too all the while wondering why they needed these. Neo's dress was white with a pink swirling pattern on the lower half. Her dress also went down to her knees, and she had her parasol to complete the look. The two had been looking around separately as Ruby's idea for surprising the other. When the two met saying they were stunned would be a bit of an understatement. Both girls were just staring at each other, and Ruby had her mouth slightly opened. After coming back to her senses Neo smirked and strutted up to Ruby and closed the girl's mouth lightly as she passed by. Finally shaken out of her stupor Ruby turned around and ran to grab her friends hand leading the two quickly to the restaurant they were going to eat at.

"So what's so special about this place? And why the fancy clothes?" Neo asked.

"The first part is a surprise, and the clothes were because …" Ruby muttered the last part looking down.

"My hearing is good, but not that good say that again."

"I wanted to…."

"Come on just say it!"

"I wanted to see you in a fancy dress!" Ruby yelled out before covering her mouth and blushing.

Neo was going to enjoy this. "So everything today was a part of your elaborate scheming all just to get me in a dress… I thought you might've actually cared about making this a special day for me." She typed looking distraught.

"What! No no no I do care, and I want to make this day special to you I promise. The dress thing was just me wanting you to feel special on your special day by dressing up in something nice, and I admit part of it was me wanting to see what you'd look like outside of your normal outfit, and you already saw how I responded to that…" She said looking down embarrassed. When she looked up she only saw Neo laughing. "Neeooooo." Ruby pouted.

Neo while laughing on the outside was actually touched at Ruby's mostly pure reasons, but hey she already told the crimsonette she loved messing with people, and this was too good an opportunity.

After settling down she typed "Thank you for that it made my day really."

Ruby just pouted, "Meanie" she muttered.

After that they ate and talked a bit. When they finished their meal Neo got ready to go, but Ruby stopped her.

"What is it?" she typed.

"Just wait." Ruby said with a smile before signaling the waiter. The waiter just nodded and went into the kitchen. A minute later the waiter returned with a closed platter. He set the platter down in-between the two girls and lifted the lid showing a cake with pink icing and strawberries surrounding the words on the cake. It read 'Happy Birthday Neo!', and when they cut the cake open it revealed it to be chocolate cake with a vanilla ice cream layer in the middle.

"Happy birthday Neo." Ruby said with a smile.

Neo shed a tear before rushing over and hugging Ruby. This was the first birthday cake she'd ever been given.

Ruby returned the hug before continuing, "We should eat it before the ice cream melts."

With a nod Neo went back to her seat and got herself a piece of her first birthday cake. Ruby also took a piece and within minutes they devoured the sweet cake.

 _With Yang and Weiss_

"Blaaaaaaake! Ruuuuuuuuby! Oum dammit where are they!" Yang screamed out in frustration. She had been looking for her two teammates while Weiss seemed content with just searching for their leader.

 _With Ruby and Neo_

The duo had left the store after paying and were walking to the warehouse that the criminal duo had been staying at.

"So how has your birthday been so far?" Ruby asked happily swinging the bags with her regular clothes back and forth.

"It's been amazing, and probably the best I've ever had." Neo typed giving the other girl a genuine smile.

"I'm so glad to hear that!" The rose girl said.

"Yeah, but it's getting late and I have that heist, so we don't have any more time." Neo typed with a frown.

"Hmmm… do you have any actual work for this gig or are you just the extra muscle if Roman needs it?" She asked.

"I'm there mainly for insurance that the job gets done, so I guess the way you worded it is I'm 'extra muscle'. Neo typed she would have snorted while laughing if she could.

"You know what I meant! Anyways if that's the case then I will stay through the heist and a little after." Ruby said with a nod.

"Why?" Neo asked simply

"I am going to make sure you enjoy the rest of your day."

"Okay? You can't be seen with us while on the job remember?"

"Yep which is why we will stay out of sight. If you are supposed to be the extra help I assume you are supposed to stay out of sight right? So that means we will just chill near wherever the heist is." Ruby said nodding again.

Seeing as how Ruby sold herself on the idea and there would be no getting around it unless her mentor said something against it, but without him here Neo just accepted it. She wasn't unhappy with her decision in any way though.

With that the two disappeared in a flash of white. It wouldn't do to have someone follow them to a criminal hideout. When they got there however they forgot one very important thing. Roman Torchwick was furious that he still had glitter everywhere, and the ones presumably responsible just appeared before him.

"Neo. Red. Did you have anything to do with this?" He asked calmly.

Ruby just smiled innocently "Do what?"

"This!" He gestured around to the silver covered areas of the warehouse and his sparkly self.

"We had nothing to do with that I hate glitter." Neo typed. Ruby continued "Yeah the last time I messed with glitter I almost was skinned alive, and the threat wasn't even from Kyle."

"Why don't I believe you?" Roman more stated than anything.

Even though it was rhetorical the two answered anyways, "Maybe because you don't have anyone else to blame." Ruby said, "Or because you don't believe that the members of the White Fang, who have animal traits that may help with that and happen to hate you, could do that." Neo finished.

"Oh great you're both smartasses how annoying." Roman muttered. "What are you doing here anyways Red, and why're you both dressed like that?"

"I've been celebrating Neo's birthday with her." Ruby said happily.

"Oh right I forgot about that with the heist planning my bad Neo, but happy birthday regardless." Roman said bringing out a cigar and lighting it. He had a long day and needed a breather before this heist. Wait…

"That didn't answer my question Red what're you doing here now we have a heist we are about to start." Roman exclaimed.

"I'm still hanging out with Neo Duhhhhh." Ruby said.

"That's not what I meant." Roman sighed. "You know what never mind just don't get seen with us."

"Alright people let's move out we have Schnee dust to steal." He mentioned the Schnee name to put the mutts into a better mood.

 _With Blake_

"Hey are you hungry? I stole us some food." Sun Wukong said as he hopped next to the proned Blake.

"Do you always break the law without a second thought?" She asked annoyed.

"Weren't you in a cult or something?" He replied, but when he caught her glare apologized. "Right too soon."

They were camping out at the docks watching a shipment of dust on the off chance the White Fang came for it.

When Blake was growing tired of waiting around and was about to call it off she heard the sound of bullheads approaching. Out of the bullheads came dozens of White Fang members.

"Oh no…"

"You really didn't think it was them?" Sun asked.

"No I think I always knew, but didn't want to believe it." She said before hearing a voice.

"Alright let's move it you animals we aren't exactly the most inconspicuous group of thieves here." Roman said walking out of one of the bullheads.

"This isn't right. The White Fang would never work with a human especially not one like that." Blake said before hopping off the container and running towards the man.

"Hmm the kitty has jumped in head first how interesting. Be ready Roman and keep those two out of this. Her interference gives me a perfect chance to make the target disappear." The reaper communicated to his partner while watching what was happening from the top of the crane. "Just make sure not to get killed by a little girl." Was his last statement to his partner before cutting the link.

"Well you're just in charge of everything here aren't you." Roman muttered to himself as he acted normally holding his cane behind his back.

"Don't move." A voice from behind him ordered pressing a blade to his neck.

"Oh for the love of-"

He was rudely interrupted by a hit to the head from the girl.

"Brothers and sisters of the White Fang why are you aiding this human filth?" Blake asked removing her bow showing her ears.

"Didn't you get the memo kitty the White Fang and I are going in on a joint business venture."

"Tell me what it is or I will put an end to you little operation." Blake threatened.

"I wouldn't exactly call it a little operation." Roman said at the sound of more bullheads approaching.

Blake looked up slightly moving her blade away from his neck. When she did that he fired a shot from his Melodic Cudgel at her feet knocking her back.

Ruby and Neo had been watching but had been ordered not to engage unless the signal was given. While watching Ruby noticed one of the grunts in the back of the group get pulled into the darkness. At first, she was worried, but then saw the glowing red slits of a mask and smiled.

"Well that's why he didn't give you the signal." Ruby whispered to Neo.

She raised her eye in question, and Ruby just pointed to a dark area behind the group. Neo just made an 'Ah' face and nodded before looking at the ensuing battle between the grunts and Roman against the cat-girl and monkey-boy. The grunts were doing what grunts do best and being pure fodder, but meanwhile Roman had his hands full with the cat-girl in front of him. While he was on the backfoot he had a calm look on his face as he blocked and parried every attack with his cane.

As the group of grunts thins out there is a momentary lull in fighting when thrown into the middle of the group is the headless body of one of the grunts. Everyone even Roman and Blake stopped to look. Blake and Sun looked pale, the White Fang grunts looked pissed, and Roman had a blank look on his face.

The head came down next, and this time everyone looked to where it came from and saw eerie red slits, and the Faunas who had night vision were able to see the form of the reaper with his black scythe held over his shoulder. It sent a chill through most of the group, and while everyone was staring Roman used this distraction to kick the girl away and shoot towards the hanging crate above the girl.

Ruby decided it would be a good time to appear and save the day so to speak. "Sorry to cut this short Neo, but I hope you had a good birthday and like this last present." With that she kissed Neo on the cheek before disappearing in a flurry of rose petals heading towards the battle.

Roman was waiting to see the crate crush the girl before a vortex of rose petals scooped the girl up and away. After looking around he saw one Red with one cat-girl in her arms. He sighed before calling to the group. "It's high time we leave I don't know about you all, but huntresses and The Reaper don't really seem to be high on my list of fighting, so let's head out. With that the groups ran to the bullheads, and just for the fun of it, or just because it was part of the plan Roman pressed the button on a detonator he had hidden that blew up one of the bullheads to make it look more convincing. The reaper playing his part sent a wave of flames towards the bullhead from his scythe, and with the timing it looked like the flames triggered an explosion o the others.

"Nice timing." The reaper commented before jumping onto the ground to convene with the two faunas and his pupil.

When Sun saw Ruby he took a few steps back with his legs shaking, and when the reaper appeared behind her he made sure Blake was between them. He wasn't afraid no no no. It's like Neptune with water I'll just look for a different point of view.

Blake was terrified as well, but also shocked. She was terrified because she just saw the death of a handful of faunas thanks to the reaper, and shocked because her leader appeared out of nowhere to save her.

"Ruby where did you come from, and what is _he_ doing here." Blake spat the last part.

"I was with Kyle of course. After Penny and I separated he texted me and told me to meet him."

"Why did he bring you to a place where he would kill multiple people!" Blake asked.

Ruby shrugged before saying, "It is important to get used to the sight of death. The reason you almost got crushed is because you were distracted while Torchwick wasn't."

"Well said." The reaper said taking off his mask.

Poor Sun was terrified of the people talking to Blake, and Blake noticed but thought it was all directed at the reaper.

"Blake how do you know these lovely people?" He asked nervously.

"Ruby is my team leader, and odd enough the reaper here is one of the teachers at Beacon." She said pointing to each.

"Wait what?"

Before she could say anything else Yang and Weiss arrived panting. They had sprinted across town after hearing a big explosion. As soon as she saw Weiss Blake walked up and started trying to explain herself, but Weiss cut her off. "Yeah as long as you're not with them anymore I don't care. The past is the past, and if something like this comes up again talk it out with us your team instead of… someone else."

It was at that point that Ruby made a shocking discovery. "Ohhhhh that's what you meant when you said kitty the other day." She chirped to the reaper who just sighed at her slowness.

"And you! Actually, both of you! Ruby where have you been all day? We have been looking for you for longer than we were looking for Blake!" The heiress yelled.

"Heh heh well you see I had to do something with Kyle, so I was doing that." Ruby said rubbing the back of her head.

"What were you guys doing to have you dressed so nicely?" Yang asked suspiciously.

'Oh shit I forgot about that, and I forgot my change of clothes with Neo!' Ruby internally panicked.

"Relax Xiao Long we've discussed this I'm not trying to date the half-pint." Kyle said getting an indignant 'Hey!' from said half-pint.

After some minor bickering Kyle decided it would be best to leave before the police arrived but instructed Blake and Sun to stay and give them a report of what happened. Weiss and Yang albeit reluctantly decided to stay with them while Ruby followed the reaper.

"So what has you in such a good mood? Did you give her the best birthday ever?" He asked as they walked out of earshot.

"The mark again right." She said.

"Yes I was enjoying a day off in preparation for this contract when I noticed your sudden spike in happiness and decided to see what you were doing. I don't know what had you so nervous at the dinner, but I was laughing at you pretty hard." He said.

"I think she liked it, and the dinner thing is a story for another time, and I'm in a good mood now because I gave her a good present and saved my teammate from being crushed. I'd say that deserves a pat on the back in my book." She said with confidence.

"Whatever you say kid, but what was the last present you gave her that made you both so happy?" He asked.

"I gave her a kiss on the cheek." She said kind of embarrassed. "Wait how did you know she felt that way?"

"Roman said that Neo was suddenly in a really good mood right before you entered the fray. He has her marked as well remember?"

"OOOOOhhhhhhhh I get it."

With that they went back to Beacon and Ruby was soon joined by the rest of her team.

 _With Roman and Neo_

"So are you going to spill the beans, or am I going to have to figure it out?" Roman asked Neo when they got back to the warehouse.

"You can figure it out." She signed out skipping away happily.

'Okay then…' Roman walked back to his planning area but was interrupted by the one person he genuinely hated.

"How disappointing Roman we expected better from someone with your reputation." A sultry yet authoritative voice said from the shadows only glowing amber eyes could be seen from the shadows.

"I'm not sure you expect when you ask me to work with a bunch of animals." Roman said flatly.

"Oh you can't always blame your henchmen Roman. Now explain why you failed again." The woman demanded.

Roman smiled internally. 'Let's play a game shall we?' "Two words for you. The Reaper."

With that he walked away leaving the women and her two underlings in silence.

 **A/N: Well as much as I would apologize for this arc being only one chapter it is twice the length of my usual chapters, so whatever.**

 **If you don't like it then sorry, but most of us know how the one side of the story plays out with Blake and her team, so I went for a different point of view and changed it up as per usual.**

 **Favorite, follow, review, or whatever you all do.**

 **-Later Laz out**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY**

 **Before we get started I realized that while I always say to follow favorite etc. I've never actually thanked all those that do follow and favorite and review, so thanks for that.**

The Break

It had been a few weeks since Blake's "big" reveal, and the first semester has come and gone. Right now, everyone is out and about doing their own things. Blake bless her heart has been running herself into the ground trying to figure out why the White Fang had been working with Torchwick. Weiss is still being a prude and studying throughout the break. Yang divided her time between trying to catch up with her secretive sister and training. Ruby is spending most of her time training with Kyle, Roman, and Neo.

"Again, get up you two." Kyle said to the two panting girls.

"What have we done to deserve such a fate?" Ruby asked to no one. Neo just nodded in agreement to Ruby's sentiment. The old duo was sparring against the new, and their experience and teamwork showed compared to the two girls.

"Well Red and Neo you two were told we would be doing this eventually, and you will have to surpass us at some point." Roman said twirling his cane.

"If we hold back it will just give you both a false sense of confidence, and ultimately make you weaker." Kyle said holding his sword in one hand with it pointing to the ground slightly in front of him.

"Yeah, we know you're right, but give us a minute to recover at least we've been at it for a few hours." Ruby said for the both of them.

"Alright how about this. If you can get a good hit on one of us then we can all take a break, and maybe get some food." Kyle said looking to Roman who just shrugged. "We don't have any jobs today, so what we do after this doesn't matter much." Roman said.

Looking back to the two girls who were still in the same positions they had been in Kyle continued. "Does that sound go-" He started before getting kicked hard in the chest sending him onto the ground. When he looked again the illusion Neo set up had faded and both girls were smiling at him.

"Breaktime!" Ruby cheered. Neo fist pumped the air mimicking what the rose girl had done.

"Well that was a dirty trick. Catch us while we were talking and distracted… I like it." Kyle said with a grin standing up.

"I'm so proud." Roman said overdramatically wiping a fake tear away.

"Alright, so while you two were praising our cheap shot we decided on where we wanted to go, and you two are paying." Neo signed out with a grin.

"Lead the way then but remember after this break we are moving on to some hand-to-hand practice. Ruby paled at the mention of that. "Um do we have to?" She asked looking down.

"What's the matter Red you not so good in a fight without that oversized hedge trimmer?" Roman asked with a laugh.

"Before she starts defending her 'baby' no she's always sucked at it, but what will you do Ruby in a fight where Crescent Rose gets taken away from you?" The reaper asked.

Ruby didn't have a response but after thinking for a minute came up with something. "What if, and hear me out, what if I had another weapon?" Ruby said hopefully.

Roman looked at Kyle with an eyebrow raised, and it looked like they were having a mental conversation. "You're right I don't think I ever used that old thing." Kyle eventually said to Roman before looking to Ruby and Neo who just looked confused.

"I might have a small concealable backup weapon for you to use, but there is a chance that could get taken as well, so we still will work on hand-to-hand." He said and Ruby who had been excited by the idea of a new weapon suddenly deflated. "You're no good at punching, but that semblance enhanced kick wasn't bad. If I remember right Roman said Neo's hand-to-hand typically revolves around kicks and throws."

Neo nodded in affirmation.

"Maybe she can teach you a bit of that." Kyle suggested.

Ruby sweat-dropped at the idea while Neo smiled evilly. Ruby had kept up her desire to learn sign language, but Neo was a scary teacher. On the bright side she had learned the language rather quickly. Whether it was fear of failure and the punishment that would come with it, or she was just a quick-learner it ended up working out.

"Anyways let's get a move on. We can figure this out on the way." Roman said walking out of the warehouse.

The others followed and Ruby and Neo took the lead. 'So what do you think?' Kyle thought to Roman.

'They are definitely getting better and are probably better than we were at their age. Even so they aren't ready yet. Red has never had to live on the other side of the law, and with her being a huntress-in-training it might that tougher for her.' He thought back.

'I can see the conflict of interest, but while she does want to be a huntress to protect people she has already shown that she can take a life.'

'I know she killed some of Junior's men, but what about someone who isn't considered a 'bad guy'?' Roman asked.

'We already had a discussion on the subject of good and evil. Well mostly evil, but she has the right frame of mind at least now she does. When we first met she couldn't stand the idea of hurting someone else, but she's grown up a bit, and I took her on a few easier assignments as time passed. I've even let her kill a few of them which oddly enough she didn't hate.' Kyle said putting a hand to his chin.

'I think you may have passed on your sadistic tendencies during your time together.' Roman thought. 'Junior's boys weren't exactly clean kills if you know what I mean.'

'Oh? Maybe I'll let her handle one of the next contracts and just watch. She might be farther along than I thought.' He though with a smile.

'This next generation will be two sadists instead of one. You know I've never been one to waste time on that kind of thing. Blood stains are so difficult to remove from my clothes, and in the end, I am but a gentleman thief.' Roman mock bowed.

While they were having their mental conversation Ruby and Neo were talking. Neo was just signing.

"They really get caught up in their mental conversations don't they?" Neo asked rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, but I didn't know it was a two-way connection I thought it just went from Roman to Kyle." Ruby said.

Neo shrugged. "We never really asked about that, so they just didn't tell us."

"How will it work with us in the future? Will the like signs or texts appear in my head, or will I hear what your voice would actually sound like?" Ruby asked curiously, and partially excited at hearing her partner's voice.

"I… don't actually know… maybe we could ask them." Neo signed.

"Kyle! Roman!" Ruby called. The two just looked at her raising their eyebrows in question. "When we take over how will Neo and I mentally communicate? Will it be like textual thoughts or will I hear her voice?" she asked.

"You know I have no idea." Kyle shrugged.

"You'll have to wait and see, but don't get too excited we aren't dead yet." Roman said with a smirk. "Now where is it you two are leading us?"

"I wanted to check out a club!" Ruby chirped. Neo just shrugged and nodded. "It could be fun to see some of you try to dance." She signed.

"And what club did you have in mind?" He asked. "And Neo there won't be a lot of people there especially dancing, so that's not happening. It's too early in the day most clubs pick up late at night." Kyle said.

Neo looked down pretending to be sad while Ruby answered his question.

"One my sister went to once. I think she said the owner was named Junior or something." Ruby said.

"Well this should be interesting. We will have to make sure he stays quiet about us being there together he is an informant after all." The reaper said looking to Roman who nodded. "Maybe I can get a refund on those guys he lent me. They weren't worth the cost with how easily you took them out." Roman said looking to Ruby.

"Sorry about that, but you guys did try to rob me." Ruby said blushing.

"No hard feelings if I wanted to be mad at someone then I would be mad at my partner here for sending his junior assassin after me." Roman said glaring at Kyle.

"You're still alive, so it's no biggie. There's no use crying over spilled milk anyways." The reaper said with a grin.

"Whatever." Roman sighed. With that the group eventually found themselves at the entrance to Junior's club and were about to enter when Kyle stopped them.

"He will be angry at you right Roman?" Kyle asked.

"Yes probably since the guys never came back, and I plan on asking for a refund." Roman shrugged nonchalantly.

"Then let's have some fun with this. Ruby and Neo stick to the shadows with me, and let's see what Junior does then we react accordingly." He said with a devious smile.

"Oh this will be fun!" Ruby said happily before taking off her cloak and putting it in a bag she got form somewhere.

Neo had a cruel smile that Kyle noticed. "We aren't going to kill him though. _Neo._ " He said pointedly. She just put on an innocent smile and pointed to herself in question with an unsaid 'Who me?'

"Well he is an informant that Roman uses if he needs dirt on one of our targets that he can't find himself." The reaper said. "So no killing if we can help it." He added

"Fine." The two said/signed at the same time.

With that the three snuck into the club sticking to the shadows while Roman walked in with a confidence that only he could have. 'Such a smug ginger.' Ruby thought.

Within seconds Junior spotted Roman and shouted. "Torchwick! You better have a damn good reason for showing back up here."

"Yes I was wanting to get a refund for those men you lent me." Roman said with a smirk.

"Why would I do that?" Junior said through gritted teeth.

"Because they all got offed by a little girl, and you told me they were the best of the best. That my friend is false advertising if I've ever seen it." Roman replied.

"What little girl could possibly take on all those men and yourself." Junior said not believing the thief at all.

"That would be me." Said a cold voice from behind Junior. He then felt the cold of steel around his neck and looking down slightly he saw the blade of a scythe.

Junior paled at the sight. "W-what do you want?" he asked.

"Just for you to behave, and make sure no one finds out we were here." Said a deeper colder voice coming from his right. When he looked over he saw the glowing red eyes of the reaper's mask coming out of the shadows.

"That's enough Ruby let him go." The reaper said.

With that she put her scythe away. "Alright Kyle!" she chirped.

Junior let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding but froze again when the reaper spoke to him. "Junior a very famous informant in the underground. It is nice to make your acquaintance." He said before taking off his mask. "I couldn't have asked for a better reaction of terror, so thank you." He laughed. "And good time to jump in Ruby perfect timing in the conversation."

"Thanks." She said proudly before calling out to Neo. "Come on out Neo."

With a flash of light Neo appeared next to Ruby. Poor Junior was still terrified as people were coming out of seemingly nowhere and had an idea on who most of them were.

"Why are you all here?" He asked nervously hoping his men that were gathering around them wouldn't do anything stupid.

"Well I wanted to see a club, but apparently it's too early according to _someone_." Ruby said looking at Kyle.

"The club is empty like I said it would be. You can't blame me for your poorly thought out idea." He responded with a smirk.

"Hmph!" She pouted.

"Anyways we are here for some food, and just in case you didn't get the memo you will forget you ever saw us here afterwards or else." The reaper said with a scowl.

"R-right bar or table?" Junior asked.

"Bar." Roman replied for the group.

They then went to the bar while Junior ran into the back room before coming out with a different pair of pants on. "Melanie and Miltia if you two could make sure no one else comes in that would be great." Junior said to the bodyguards before walking over to the four people at the bar.

"So what can I get you." Junior asked slightly calmer figuring if they had come to kill him then they would have done so earlier.

"We drinking?" Roman asked.

"Yes!" Ruby and Neo said/signed respectively.

"Alright then could I get a coke in rum?" Kyle asked.

"I'll take a shot of whiskey." Roman said.

"Oh let's see I'll take a strawberry margarita." Ruby said.

"I'll take a strawberry sunrise." Neo typed out.

"Aren't some of you a little young to be drinking?" Junior asked.

"We are all underage what's your point? We are all very willing and capable of killing you if this takes too long." Roman said.

"What?" Junior asked in disbelief.

"The reaper and I are only twenty." Roman shrugged. "Never start smoking kids."

"Anyways hurry it up and get our drinks while we look at the menu." Kyle said.

"R-right." He said slowly before preparing all of their drinks.

When he came back with the drinks they ordered some food and relaxed a bit. Roman and Neo quickly learned that Ruby is a complete lightweight when it comes to alcohol because after two drinks she was out of it.

"She doesn't drink much does she?" Roman asked.

"No she's a weird one. She can handle whiskey just like her uncle, but anything fruity especially strawberry flavored gets her. I'm really not sure why I'm just convinced she's weird." Kyle said with a shrug.

Before anyone could comment on how little sense that made there was a burst of rose petals, and suddenly Ruby had her arms draped over Neo who looked very confused.

"Oh right she still likes to use her semblance when drunk." Kyle added off-handedly.

"Heya Neoo let's danceee." Ruby slurred pulling the smaller girl away from the bar and to the dance floor.

"Oh this looks like it'll be good." Roman said with a smirk. The song _I Burn_ was playing throughout the club.

"Junior put on _This will be the day_ it's one of her favorites." Kyle ordered with a grin. Ruby drunk dancing is always an experience to see, and poor Neo had a front row seat.

When the song was turned Ruby screamed out "Oh I love this songgg" before she started pulling Neo around the dancefloor and attempting to dance.

Roman and Kyle couldn't help but laugh while Neo was blushing. This was not what she imagined when she said she wanted to see these people dance. Not at all.

Ruby for her part was enjoying herself in her drunken stupor, and when the song finally ended she said, "Thanks fer dancing wit meh Neo!" Then she leaned over and kissed the girl who went beet red.

"That's one mystery solved." Roman muttered to himself.

"Yes it is, but I wonder how much of this Ruby will remember when she recovers." Kyle said looking up in thought.

"I can tell you one person who is never going to forget it." Roman said looking to the still blushing Neo as they walked back to the bar.

"Can I get 'nother?" Ruby asked Junior.

"No you've had enough I don't think Neo could handle if you got any more drunk." The reaper said laughing.

"Aww. Yer no fun." She pouted.

After a few more minutes Ruby passed out, and the other three decided it would be a good idea to get back.

"So much for sparing after this little escapade." Kyle sighed carrying the unconscious Ruby on his back. Again.

"I think this was a wonderful idea." Roman said with a smug grin. "What do you think Neo?"

Neo just blushed and kicked him.

After a good laugh at Neo's expense the group headed back to one of the many warehouses they had been using for training.

"I don't think bringing her back to the school is a good idea with her being drunk. That'd be another problem they'd blame on me." Kyle said setting Ruby down on a pallet.

"But you did introduce her to alcohol originally." Roman pointed out.

"Yes, but they don't need to know that." He responded.

"Alright, so is she staying here?" Neo asked.

"That might be a good idea, and I will probably hang around until morning to bring her back to the school." Kyle said.

"We do have a contract tonight remember?" Roman said reminding the reaper of something he had obviously forgot about. "Oh yeah you're right. Alright Roman let's go take care of that job it shouldn't take more than an hour or two. Neo can you watch over Ruby while we are away." He asked.

"Yes I can take care of her." She signed out.

"Good when we're gone you'll probably be who she turns to." He mutters under his breath before turning and walking towards the exit. "Let's go hunting Roman." He said pulling out his mask.

When they both left Neo looked over to the sleeping Ruby and sat down next to her. 'She looks so peaceful.' After a minute or two Neo realized that it was getting cooler outside, so she grabbed Ruby's bag and pulled out her cloak before laying it across the girl like a blanket.

After a while Neo was sitting on he scroll looking for something to pass the time. She gave up, and, looked down at Ruby who no longer had a peaceful look on her face, but instead had a look of pain and fear. Her breathing was erratic, and she was mumbling in her sleep 'no'. Suddenly she shot up with tears in her eyes "No!" she screamed.

Neo quickly went over to her and held onto the girl softly stroking her hair trying to get the girl to calm down. A few minutes later Ruby had calmed down and looked around trying to remember where she was. When she looked up at Neo's worried face the events of the past few hours came back to her, and her face went redder than her cloak. "Neo!" She squeaked.

"Are you alright?" Neo asked.

"Y-yea it was just a nightmare it happens every once in a while." She managed to get out.

"Are you sure you look awfully red do you have a fever?" She asked before feeling her forehead with the back of her hand.

"I-I'm f-fine I swear." Ruby said backing away slightly.

"Hmm alright then." She replied.

They sat around for a few minutes in silence before Ruby called out, "Hey Neo…"

Neo gave her a questioning look telling her to go on.

"Can you tell me what happened when we went to dance?" Ruby asked slowly.

Neo started blushing again. "We danced. Well you tried to at least." She said hoping her smug look would get rid of the blush. It didn't.

"What about after we danced. Did I really kiss you?" Ruby asked after a moment.

Neo just kept blushing and didn't say anything.

Ruby sighed "I thought so. I'm sorry about that Neo."

"No no there's no reason to be sorry." She signed.

"I want to make it up to you." Ruby said ignoring the girl's signing.

"I said it was fine you don't need to do anything."

"Neo close your eyes." Ruby said forcefully.

Neo just sighed and closed her eyes and waited for a moment. After a few seconds she felt something pressing against her lips, and her eyes shot open. In front of her was Ruby kissing her again with her eyes closed. Ruby then pulled away and said, "There that was a proper kiss." She was blushing.

Neo just touched her lips with her fingers and looked at the girl in front of her. Then she did something Ruby wasn't expecting and pulled her close and kissed her again.

 _With Kyle and Roman_

"Hmm you know we should have put some more thought into how we are going to find her." Kyle said to his partner.

"You're right we didn't think about how to find her did we?"

"Hmm well if you don't know something then find someone who does." Kyle said walking through different alleys.

"You're right, but who's going to know where Sienna Kahn of all people is." Roman asked.

"Well she's the leader of the White Fang, so someone must know where she is." Kyle said.

"I know just the bull who might know, but we have to keep up with appearances don't we." Roman said thinking aloud. "He is a die-hard member of the White Fang, so if someone were to per say destroy a few of their bases it might draw him out for revenge." He finished.

"Sure why not. From our perspective this is just one obstacle that the Reaper must eliminate to get to the target, so I should be able to handle it without breaking any rules." Kyle said.

"Alright I can find you a few bases, and it'd probably be a good idea to start small and work up." Roman said.

"This will take some time wouldn't it be a pain in the ass if there were time restraints for these contracts?" Kyle asked with a chuckle.

"Oh you have no idea we barely stay ahead as it is if they were timed that'd be so much more difficult, but who would actually time something like that?" He asked.

"Hell if I know, but this will definitely take longer than the 1-2 hours we told Neo." The reaper said.

"You're right, and speaking of those two are you getting a weird feeling from your mark?" Roman asked.

"Yeah I've figured out what most of the feelings mean, but I don't recognize this one." Kyle said.

"I wonder what those two could possibly be doing." Roman said to no one in particular.

"Who knows, but we can worry about that later I should at least hit a base tonight. Do you know of a close by one?" the reaper asked.

"Sure I'll give you the address that I know off the top of my head." Roman said sarcastically.

"No need to be an ass about it." Kyle deadpanned.

"Maybe not, but it is rather fun don't you think?"

"You're right it is entertaining, and I can't really say I've never done it." Kyle Shrugged.

"Exactly! Now if you want to hit a base tonight then I'll head back to the hideout Cinder has had us in, and I'll look into some files. I'll send you an address when I'm done, but for now go enjoy the night. Scare some children or something." Roman said walking away.

'Hmm I could scare some people or look for a base to hit. Orrrr I could do both.' He thought to himself grinning evilly walking in the direction of Beacon. 'I'm sure kitty cat has something useful for this.'

 _At Beacon_

Blake was having a calm and infuriatingly restless night once again. She couldn't stop thinking about Torchwick and the White Fang, and little did she know her night was about to get worse.

 _Knock_

 _Knock_

 _Knock_

Hearing the knock Blake stood up from her bed to open the door expecting someone from Team JNPR, but unpleasantly surprised to see one of her combat instructors.

"Hello Professor… What can I do for you?" She asked hesitantly.

"I was wondering if I could pick your brain for a moment is all." He said smoothly.

"I don't know what is it you want to know from me that you don't already?" Blake asked somewhat curious.

"I believe this conversation should be done in private, so the hallway isn't quite the right place." He said.

"Alright fine come in, but if you try anything you will regret it." Blake warned.

"Wouldn't dream of it girlie." He said walking in to the empty dorm of team RWBY.

"Alright what had to be so private?" She asked.

"I wanted to ask you some questions about the White Fang." Kyle decided to tell the truth.

"W-what about the White Fang?" She asked. This was a rather sensitive topic for the girl.

"I will just say it I suppose. I'm looking to get in contact with the leader of the White Fang. One Sienna Kahn." He said.

"W-why do you want to contact her exactly?"

"I believe we have a similar goal for the foreseeable future, and I wanted to discuss a few things with her." He answered.

"Umm I don't know I've never met her, but my old partner was higher up in the Fang, so he might know, but I can't tell you where he is because I'm you know trying to hide from the Fang especially him." She said.

'Interesting.' "Do you happen to know of any of the Fang's bases that I could look into? I usually just happen across them whenever I find one, but I've never really looked for one before now." He said.

"I may know of one or two, but they won't let a human anywhere near their higher ups, so I doubt it'll do you any good." She said

"Why don't you tell me where those would be located, and I'll try my luck. I'll never know if I don't try. Besides Torchwick is working with them, so who knows." Kyle said with a hint of mischief.

Blake growled "I still can't believe they're working with such a despicable human like him."

He chuckled, and she glared at him. "I don't know either, but I doubt it is anything good, so maybe you should stop working so hard on this and relax. You can't defeat Roman the way you are now."

"You make it sound like you know him." Blake said slowly.

'How perceptive.' "I have come across him a few times in my criminal career, so I guess you could say that. Oh before I forget what was your relation to your old partner?" He asked changing topics.

"U-um he was my mentor that's all." She said trying to hide a blush.

'I see I see if this current plan fails then I might have a backup plan.' "Well if you'll give me those addresses I will get out of your hair and let you rest." He said with a smile.

"Alright then." She said transferring the data to his scroll. 'What is he playing at? Similar goals?'

"Thanks kitty cat and do try to remember you're a student before anything else. Let the adults handle the bad guys." He said chuckling as he left.

"What have I just done?" She asked herself before laying down and falling asleep.

 _With Ruby and Neo_

After a few minutes Neo finally stopped the kiss leaving the red-cloaked girl in a daze. "W-why did you do that?"

Neo just smirked before signing, "Now we are even."

"What does that even mean?" Ruby asked still slightly dazed looking to the tri-colored girl.

Neo made a motion of zipping her mouth closed and locking it which Ruby thought was ironic as hell but didn't say it. "Tell me what you meant!" She pouted.

"Nope!" Neo signed before laughing a silent laugh.

Ruby rushed and pinned down the smaller girl. "Tell me Neo."

She couldn't move her hands but the look on her face said it all. 'Or what?'

Ruby contemplated momentarily 'What can I really take away from her? Umm… Oh maybe I can try a reward thing.' "If you tell me then I'll give you something special."

Neo quirked an eyebrow.

"Tell me and I'll give you a reward. It can be any one thing that is within my power to give. Other than Crescent Rose." She added quickly.

Neo pulled at her arms to try and communicate.

"Oh right sorry." Ruby said letting her arms go but still sitting on the girl.

"Anything I want?" She asked.

"Yes if you tell me already."

"Alright you've kissed me twice on the lips and once on the cheek the first one from earlier happened to be my first kiss, so you had to compensate for it. That's why I kissed you for so long." Neo signed out blushing.

Ruby was blushing too, "Wait that was your first kiss? I'm so so sorry, but if it makes you feel any better it was my first too." She said sheepishly.

'I didn't think it'd be her first too.' Neo thought. "Well now you owe me something isn't that right?" Neo asked with a grin.

"Yep I'm a lady of my word." She said popping the 'p' as usual.

"Alright than I want…" Neo signed before adopting a thinking pose. After a moment she smiled and pointed at Ruby.

"What is it you want exactly." She asked nervously.

"I think you owe me a second date. Just the two of us." Neo signed with a kinder smile this time.

Ruby blushed awkwardly. "When and where?"

"How about tonight?" she asked.

"Sure if that's what you want." Ruby said regaining her cheerful nature.

"Alright then let's go!" Neo was somewhat excited.

"Okay, but where?" Ruby asked taking Neo's extended hand.

"Do you like violence?" Neo asked with a dark smile.

Ruby responded with a dark smile of her own. "Oh you have no idea."

Neo raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you training to be a huntress? I thought you guys were about keeping the peace and protecting people."

"We can't all be the ideal huntress. What can I say Kyle has rubbed off on me and he is a huge sadist. He always said it's important to enjoy your job." Ruby said

Neo nodded and smiled again. "Let's get into some trouble." With that they teleported away.

They appeared outside a very familiar club. "You said you wanted to see what a club was like well let's go." Neo signed.

"Alright let's go, but no more drinking today. I still have a slight headache from earlier." Ruby said as they walked towards the entrance. The bouncer recognized them from earlier and stopped them from entering shaking his head no. Neither Neo nor Ruby liked this reaction, but before Neo could do anything Ruby let out her bloodlust. When she did she focused it all on the guy in front of her and he tried to back away, but she followed each step. After a few steps his back hit the wall of the building and Ruby just kept stepping closer. Another second passed by before he passed out. With the bouncer out of the way Ruby resealed her bloodlust and smiled at Neo holding a hand out to her.

'She's insane and scary as hell… she's perfect.' Neo thought to herself as she took Ruby's hand.

"That wasn't too much for you was it? If I'm not careful then the bloodlust can affect the people close to me before I reign it in." Ruby said looking down.

"I loved it." Neo signed happily.

"O-okay then I'm glad most people that have been around me when I do it end up running away or staying away from me. I don't think I was careful enough when I first used it on that monkey faunas. Blake has been keeping her distance more than usual. Oh well." Ruby said as they walked in.

The older duo was right the club later at night was full of people dancing and partying. Neo and Ruby ran around the edge of the dancefloor and to the bar to find Junior.

When they saw him, they charged towards him and tackled him.

"Junior!" Ruby said, and Neo mouthed.

"Agh what are you two doing back here?!" Junior exclaimed seeing what hit him.

"We are on a date thank you very much." Ruby said snootily before laughing. "And imagine our surprise when we weren't allowed to come in by your bouncer." Ruby said still smiling while Neo held her parasol point dangerously close to his neck.

"U-um I can explain it was just a misunderstanding." He stuttered out.

"Well make sure that no other bouncer makes that mistake because if it happens again they may not live to tell about it." Ruby said sweetly, and that scared Junior more than the blade at his neck.

Before he can answer both girls jump out of the way some bullets shot by Junior's men. Getting up he found his cocky attitude again. "We will be happy to remove you by force if necessary." He growled.

Neo typed something out since this simpleton probably didn't know sign language, "We were hoping you'd say that."

Suddenly the girls stood very still with smiles on their faces. The guards rushed towards them only for the image to shatter like glass leaving them confused until one screamed in pain. When the others looked up they saw one of their own bleeding on the floor with a red-cloaked girl standing on his back. Another scream was heard from behind them, and when they looked they saw a tri-colored girl standing above a man whose arm was bent backwards.

The men being the grunts they are charged without a second thought. All Junior could do was watch as his men were taken down. His club/rocket launcher weapon still hadn't been fixed, and even with his size he wasn't going near that scythe. During the fight most of the partiers fled screaming. When the two were done with that they saw Melanie and Miltia walking towards them getting ready for a fight. Ruby looked towards Neo and smiled, and Neo did the same. They walked to the center of the dance floor and waited for their opponents. When the arrived the girls all charged. Ruby was fighting Miltia while Neo was fighting Melanie. Ruby went on the offensive twirling Crescent Rose around her body building up momentum before shooting behind her and turning into a whirling vortex of metal and rose petals. Miltia did her best to avoid the attacks knowing that blocking them wouldn't do much except possibly breaking her claws. Try as she might she couldn't avoid every swing and luckily for her only got hit by the blunted end when it came around knocking her through one of the recently repaired columns in the club. Since she was done with her bout she looked over to see Neo dodging kick after kick with her parasol over her shoulder and s smug grin on her face.

"Hold still you little bitch!" Melanie screamed in frustration.

Unfortunately for Melanie Ruby didn't like that very much and called out to Neo. "Cookies and Cream!"

Neo just smiled and rushed Melanie kicking her multiple times all over the body before finally kicking her into the air towards Ruby's waiting scythe. 'She was mean, but I should probably let her live. They might be able to fight us again later.' Ruby thought before knocking the flying girl out of the air with a heavy blow from the blunt side of her scythe effectively hammering her into the ground. With that done the two girls looked at the unconscious and injured body guards before looking at a terrified Junior.

"Remember what the others said earlier. If we are ever here with others around you don't know us, or at least you don't say where from. Got it?" Ruby said with a hard stare.

When he nodded she smiled and held out her hand for Neo to take.

Before they left Ruby called out, "Most of your men are still alive, but might not make it if they don't get some medical attention especially those two." She pointed to the downed twins.

With that the two left big smiles on their faces

"That was fun, but I will admit I'm kind of tired now." Ruby said rubbing the back of her head.

"I am too." Neo signed.

"Well it's too late to go back to Beacon, so what do you say to a sleepover?" Ruby asked.

"Sure, but where?" Neo asked.

"We could go to Kyle's old house. We haven't been gone too long, and he still checks it every now and again for one reason or another." Ruby answered.

"Lead the way."

The two went back to Kyle's old house and managed to get in without the keys. Neo could only describe the place as empty. If Ruby hadn't mentioned it she wouldn't have thought anyone lived there.

"My room is over this way come on!" Ruby said leading the girl to her old room.

When they got to her room the found the plain colored room with a bright red colored bed. Against one of the walls. "Sorry it isn't very decorated, but I was told that in the event that we ever had to leave quickly it's best to leave behind as little as possible." Ruby said

Neo shrugged "I don't mind my room is usually more decorated than other people's anyways. You know my style."

"Yeah I like your style. It's very unique, and ice-cream related." She said with a laugh.

"Why thank you." Neo bowed.

"Well I had a lot of fun today, but it's late, so let's get to sleep. Where do you want to sleep?" Ruby asked.

Neo smirked before pointing at Ruby's bed.

"Alright I'll go sleep on-" She started before Neo pulled her to the bed with her.

"N-Neo w-what are you doing?" She squeaked.

"Just because I'm here doesn't mean you have to sleep somewhere else. Goodnight Ruby." She signed before kissing her cheek and turning over to face the wall.

'If that's how you want to play it then fine!' Ruby thought before wrapping her arms around the smaller girl. "Goodnight Neo." With that she fell asleep, and while Neo was initially shocked also soon fell asleep comfortably.

 **A/N: Hey guys I'm not sure how it got this long when this was just going to be a short chapter, but oh well.**

 **Another thing for anyone who may think this whole relationship thing is going too fast I want to remind you that even though it was just last chapter in the story a few weeks and maybe even a month passed, so deal with it.**

 **Like usual follow, favorite, review, or whatever else you all do.**

 **-Laz out**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY**

Chapter 9

It's the last day before the new semester starts, and team RWBY is eating with their sister team PNJR. They hadn't been able to spend much time together with RWBY dealing with the White Fang and training, and PNJR finishing serving in detention for the breaking of all of team CRDL's legs. That happened in a team on team fight where Pyrrha had grown tired of them bullying her partner, and maybe possible crush, so she finally gave Nora the go ahead. Anyways they were sitting together talking and enjoying their last day before the new semester. Nora is throwing grapes into Yang's mouth from across the table. Weiss is quietly talking to Pyrrha and by extension Jaune. Ren and Blake are being their quiet selves. Suddenly Ruby walks up and drops a big binder onto the table.

"Friends, sisters, Weiss…"

"Hey!"

"Four score and seven minutes ago I had a dream…"

"This outta be good." Yang said to Blake

"I had a dream that we would get together as a _Team_ and have the bestest Day EVER!" Ruby shouted.

"Is that my binder?" Weiss asked.

"I am not a thief." Ruby said motioning with her hands. "Look guys I know we have been busy with our own stuff for a lot of the break, but this is our last free day before we have to go back to worrying about classes and the festival and other stuff." Ruby finished.

"I don't know I think I'm going to go to the library." Blake said making to get up.

"Well whatever we do today we should do it all together as a team." Weiss said getting Blake to sit back down.

Suddenly Weiss was hit in the face with a pie, and when she looked over Nora pointed to Ren. If you asked her after the fact she swears that it left her hands as a grape and was heading towards Yang, but somehow it transformed into a Weiss-seeking pie.

 _With Sun and Neptune_

"The people here are the coolest! No offence to you guys." Sun said to a blue-haired boy.

"None taken." Neptune shrugged.

As they are walking and talking they don't notice the screams and flying students coming from the cafeteria. When they walk in all they here is "FOODFIGHT!" from a collection of fleeing students.

"I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!" Nora sung from the top of precariously stacked tables.

"Your tyrannical rule ends today!" Ruby shouted.

"No one crosses the queen! Off with their heads!" Nora shouted back.

"Justice will be swift, it will be painful, it will be DELICIOUS!" Ruby yelled as her team ran to action heading towards team PNJR.

The two teams had their little bout with Ruby ending it by running straight at team PNJR using her semblance to make a swirling vortex grabbing everything around her and as a result launching it at the other team. Once the group had finished Goodwitch, Kyle, and Ozpin walked into the cafeteria. Glynda was furious and used her semblance to put everything back where they needed to be before addressing the children.

"Students… Please don't play with your food." She said through clenched teeth.

Kyle was trying to hold in a laugh while Ozpin put his hand on her shoulder. "Let it go."

"They're supposed to be the defenders of tomorrow." She sighed.

"And they will be, but for now let them enjoy being children. It's not a role they'll have forever." He said.

"Ozzy is right growing up too early can have negative affects on their mind." Kyle said knowingly.

"And what makes you so sure of that?" She asked through gritted teeth. She still hated that he called Ozpin that so informally.

"Well just look at me." He shrugged. 'This wasn't exactly my first career choice.' He thought to himself.

"Yes I would hate for any of our students to end up like you." She replied.

'At least one already is. Oops.' He thought with a smile but said nothing in response.

Teams RWBY and PNJR at least looked somewhat ashamed that is before Yang fell from the ceiling, and they started laughing.

Sun looked happily to Neptune who was covered in soda. Neptune just groaned.

After their little food war, the group decided to be less destructive and headed towards the library and played some board games, which Blake was not at all focused on. After a while longer Ruby looked to Blake and decided to stop her brooding.

"Alright Blake you've stewed over this long enough it's been all break, so tell me what's the matter." Ruby said.

"I-it's nothing Ruby really." Blake said looking away. She couldn't look her red-haired leader in the eyes.

"Mhmm alright team meeting. Dorm room. Now." She said looking to her teammates.

Weiss looked ready to object but saw the look on her leader's face and just stood up and started walking to their dorm. Yang just shrugged and walked in the direction Weiss went. Blake sighed and hung her head in defeat before walking to the dorm with Ruby following close behind. The rest of her team had learned a few of the faces of their fearless leader. The one she sported now told them she was serious. Serious Ruby could be scary.

When they got to the room they all sat on the bottom bunks on their respective sides of the room. "Alright Blake tell us what's wrong we're your team. You can trust us on this." Ruby said with a pleading look to her teammate.

"It's just I'm still worried about the White Fang, Torchwick, and the fact that no one is doing anything about them." Blake said exasperated.

"Alright what do you guys think?" Ruby asked her other teammates who looked at her confused. Seeing their confusion she continued, "Who wants to become the youngest group of huntresses-in-training to take down a criminal/terrorist organization?" Ruby asked cheerfully.

"Sure that sounds fun." Yang easily consented.

"As long as it doesn't interfere with our schoolwork." Weiss added.

"You guys are willing to help me?" Blake asked confused.

"Why wouldn't we kitty cat we are your teammates and friends." Yang said with a grin.

Blake glared at the blonde for the nickname while Ruby decided the votes were all in. "Alright we can start investigating after our last class of the week. We can come up with how we are all going to do this throughout the week." The little reaper said.

"Alright then." Blake said simply with a slight happiness to her voice.

 _With Kyle_

"This is taking so damn long…" the reaper groaned looking at what was left of the most recent White Fang base he had hit. 'Where is that damn bull Roman was talking about?' He thought to himself.

He started walking towards the entrance of the base. "I guess I'll hit another one in a few days." He said aloud walking away and stepping around the bodies strewn about.

One of the grunts was still alive and heard what the reaper had said. After he was sure the reaper had left he slowly sat up and pulled out his scroll.

"He has hit our base… and it sounds like he will be hitting another… in a few days…" The grunt said into the scroll while clutching the wound in his chest.

"Thank you for the warning brother. Rest assured that he will pay for what he has done to our other brothers and sisters." An angry voice said from the side of the call.

'Hmm that may have went better than I thought it would. He actually called someone, and even if it isn't the bull they might know something.' Kyle thought looking down from the roof he was hiding on. 'That alone is worth sparing his life.' He chuckled to himself before walking away. 'If he can survive that injury that is. It wasn't too bad anyways.'

 _A few days later_

Team RWBY was in their room after classes and discussing their plans on investigating.

"Alright team RWBY we all know what we are doing?" Ruby asked.

"Yes, you and I will go to the CCT tower and acquire some Schnee records to see if we can find any trends in them." Weiss said.

"The White Fang are having a recruitment meeting today. Maybe I can find out some of what their plans are by attending the meeting." Blake said.

"I have a friend on the shady side of town who might know something." Yang said pumping her fist.

"Alright let's go!" Ruby chirped.

"Yeah let's do this." A voice from outside said.

Team RWBY jumped at the sound, or at least most of them did. Ruby figured out he was there a while ago with someone else outside. An assassin must always be observant nowhere is completely safe.

"Sun?! What are you doing here?" Blake asked.

Sun jumped into their window. "Oh you know just hanging around. Are we finally getting that Torchwick guy back?" He asked.

"We as a team are investigating. We don't want to get friends involved." Ruby said coolly.

Sun ignored his instincts telling him to be wary. "That's stupid. It's always good to get friends involved that's why I brought Neptune."

The members of team RWBY looked out the window to see Neptune standing on the ledge next to the window. "How'd you get up here?" Weiss asked.

"I have my ways. Now seriously can I come in we are like really high up." Neptune said looking down.

With the addition of Sun and Neptune they had three groups of two.

"Alright Sun since you're a faunas you can infiltrate the White Fang meeting with Blake, and Neptune can go with Yang." Ruby said.

"Why don't you go with your sister?" Weiss asked with a small blush.

"Who would go with you then?" Ruby asked feigning ignorance. Weiss flustered was always fun.

"Well I could go with Neptune." She replied.

'While I would love to mess with Weiss and say no I might want to make sure Yang doesn't learn anything that might compromise me or Kyle.' Ruby thought "Alright then Weiss I'll go with Yang."

Weiss looked shocked that her leader said yes and happy at the same time, and Yang looked nervous. "I don't know Rubes it might not be the safest place to drag you to." She said.

"You have nothing to worry about. Have you forgotten who I've been living with for the past few years?" Ruby asked Yang who just sighed and saw her point.

"If there's nothing else let's all head out." Ruby said. With that they all left Beacon to go to their destinations.

 _With Ruby and Yang_

As they were heading to the parking storage area Ruby was watching her half-sister. "Yang there is nothing to worry about. This can't end any worse than the time you dragged me out into the middle of the woods in a wagon when we were younger." Ruby said.

Yang grimaced. "Yeah I guess you're right I tried to forget that. We got lucky Uncle Qrow found us in time." She said.

"Speaking of Uncle Qrow. You haven't told him or dad that you found me right?" Ruby asked.

"I wanted to, but you were really against the idea, and you still haven't told me why that is." Yang said looking to her secretive sister.

"I can't wait to see their faces when they first see me. It'll be funny at least." Ruby said with a chuckle.

"Why did you react the way you did with me then?" Yang asked.

"I was worried at the time that you and the rest of our family still didn't want me around, but from what you told me I've gotten over that fear." She said as they finally got to Yang's bike Bumblebee. 'I could tell it wasn't a lie anyways. You and dad have never been very good at lying but looking back I can't help but wonder the things Uncle Qrow was hiding.'

She was brought out of her musings as Yang revved Bumblebee getting her sister's attention. Without anything else to say the two rode off into Vale heading to Yang's "friend" on the shady side of town.

After they arrived at a familiar club Ruby learned a few things. Yang is a madwoman behind the wheel, she knows Junior somehow, and from the looks of it the guards recognized at least one of them since they ran inside and locked the doors.

"So Yang who's this 'friend' of yours." Ruby asks as they walk towards the entrance.

"Oh his name's Junior, but you don't need to worry about that let me do the talking." Yang said as she punched the doors open.

"Right right." She muttered looking around and seeing most of Junior's men had recovered. That or he found a bunch of new guys. It's hard to tell since most of them look the same.

As soon as they walked in every grunt had a gun pointed towards Yang.

"Hold it! Hold it!" Junior shouted to his men. "Blondie you're back… Why?"

"You owe me a drink." Yang said moving slightly showing Junior who was behind her.

Ruby was impressed all he did when he saw her was gulp before turning back to Yang. "Alright alright follow me." He said keeping an eye on the girls behind him and hoping his men didn't do something stupid.

Yang and Ruby followed him over to the bar where they both sat down. Ruby decided to just wait for the two to start talking.

"So what is it you two want?" Junior asked.

"Hey! I am not letting you give alcohol to my baby sister." Yang yelled her eyes turning red briefly before Ruby squeezed her shoulder.

Junior wasn't sure what he was expecting when he saw the two come in together, but them being related was not it. He hid his surprise well although it helped he was turned away from them at the time. "Fine what is the drink I 'owe' you?" He asked sarcastically.

"A strawberry sunrise. Oh and one of those little umbrellas." She answered.

After serving the drink and keeping an eye on the hooded girl Junior finally decided to ask. "So why are the two of you really here?"

"We are looking for Roman Torchwick, and I thought I'd see what you know." Yang said before sipping on her drink.

Junior eyed Ruby who sat there with a blank face content with staying quiet.

"I don't know anything about him." Junior said to the blondie.

"That's bullshit and you know it." Yang said slamming her fist into the table.

Ruby getting bored with this decided to check up on something. With her mind made up she just slipped out of her seat and through the crowd of grunts mulling about. After a minute or two of looking Ruby found her favorite set of twins.

"Hi there!" She said happily from behind the two.

Melanie and Miltia turned around and jumped back seeing the hooded menace. They both eyed her warily subtly prepping their weapons if need be.

"Relax you two I'm not here to fight you this time." Ruby said waving her hand in a dismissive fashion and rolling her eyes.

"Then what are you doing here?" Melanie asked hesitantly.

"I wanted to make sure Junior remembered our warning, and I wanted to see how you guys were doing after our fight." Ruby ended the last part sheepishly rubbing the back of her head.

"Why would you be worried about that? You were trying to kill us last time." Miltia said.

"We weren't trying to kill you otherwise you would both most definitely be dead." Ruby answered simply.

The twins sat in silence, and Ruby saw that as a green light to continue. "When fighting each of you I got the finishing hit in with the blunt side of Crescent Rose instead of the blade." She finished.

Miltia looked over to Melanie. "She has a point they had every chance to kill us, but they didn't."

"I was serious when asking about how you were both doing. I was worried I may have hit you too hard especially you white." Ruby said not knowing their names.

Melanie smiled a bit. "It's Melanie, and my aura fixed it up no problem after getting some medical attention."

"I'm glad to hear it, and how're you holding up…" She let her question hang.

"Just call me Miltia, and I'm just fine. I needed a few days rest like my sister, but my aura took care of it." The red-clad twin responded.

"Well I'm glad to hear you are both doing better. Oh! In case you didn't know my name is Ruby. Ruby Rose, and I hope you don't take what happened personally." She said quickly.

"We were on the job it's not the first time something like that has happened, but I don't think we've ever been that outclassed before." Melanie said looking to her sister who nodded in agreement.

"Hey don't sell yourselves short that was a fun fight." Ruby said with a smile.

The twins could not understand this girl for the life of them, but just went with it.

"While we hate losing I will say it was an experience fighting the both of you. Speaking of which is that other girl with you again?" Miltia asked.

"No Neo is off doing Neo things." Ruby said with a laugh. "I'm here with my sister today, but I got tired of listening to her try and get info out of your boss, so I found you two."

"Oh? You have a sister?" They asked.

"Yeah the blonde head of hair over there is her." Ruby said pointing to the bar where Yang was still trying to get something out of Junior.

The twins did a doubletake looking between the two girls that each wrecked their club. "Blondie. The one who wrecked the whole club a while back is related to you? One of the scariest girls I have ever seen." Melanie asked still looking between the two.

"We are half-sisters, and I'm sure you've had way scarier people than me in here before." Ruby says with a blush.

"Maybe a few, but only you and the one you called Neo didn't seem scary until after the fighting started." Miltia said looking at the crimsonette.

"I'll take that as a complement for the both of us." Ruby said with a bright smile.

Melanie finally recovering from what Ruby had told her looked to said girl. "Hey Ruby, no offence, but I don't like the members of your family that I've met."

"None taken." Ruby said with a shrug. "Yang is Yang, and most the people who end up at the other end of my baby don't take an immediate shine to me."

The twins nodded before Ruby started talking again. "I should get going back to my sister, and make sure she didn't learn anything she isn't supposed to. Bye. Bye." She said walking away before turning back, "And we definitely need to fight again sometime." She said cheerfully.

The twins again nodded and gave an in sync "Sure" after they said that Ruby walked over to Yang to see if she had learned anything.

"Any luck Yang?"

She sighed, "No Junior swears up and down that he hasn't seen Torchwick since the night I wrecked his club. Apparently none of the guys he loaned him ever came back."

"I'm sorry for your losses." Ruby said looking empathetic.

"It's nothing to worry about." Junior said quickly. 'If I didn't know it was her in here the other day and at the robbery that night I would completely believe her. What is up with the kids today?'

Before the conversation could continue Yang's and Ruby's scrolls rang. When opening the call they heard Sun's voice, "HEEEELLLLPPPP!"

Blake made a bit more sense, "Torchwick is chasing us in a giant robot." Maybe not that much more sense, but the sisters still understood.

They both ran out and saw the giant robot go by chasing the two faunas.

"Come on Yang let's go help them!" Ruby said as she hopped on Bumblebee.

"On it!"

With that they were off, and quickly caught up with the Atlesian paladin that had just knocked Sun and Neptune, the latter had just arrived, over the side of the bridge.

"Well that sucks. We need to get him off the highway!" Ruby yelled to her team.

Weiss nodded and ran over to a bend in the road then covered it in a layer of ice. Roman in the paladin ran after the two faunas and missed the ice, so he and his machine fell off the highway to a lower and less crowded area. The team jumped down after him and got into a fighting stance.

Roman looked at the four girls in front of him and sighed. 'Kyle why is Red and her team so insistent on making my life difficult?'

From somewhere far off Kyle answered. 'She takes after me in that, and I'm sure you'll be fine.'

Roman sighed again before activating the speaker in the "borrowed" paladin. "Oh goodie Red's little band of misfits is here." Roman said sarcastically. "Isn't it past your bedtime?"

"Alright guys let's get this thing." 'I wonder where Neo is hiding. She has to be nearby if Roman is out and about.' Ruby said and thought respectively.

"Yeah! Let's do this." Yang yelled extending Ember Cecilia. The rest of them readied their weapons as well and Ruby shouted out. "Freezerburn!"

Weiss stuck her rapier into the ground using her ice dust to create a sheet of ice. Yang jumped up and fired a heated punch onto the sheet causing a mist to form. Roman activated the laser sensors on the paladin's weapons systems to try and find the girls encircling him. After firing at and missing Blake and Yang, Ruby appeared in front him slashing at the paladin with her scythe.

Before he could do anything, she jumped back and called out "Checkmate!" Weiss and Blake then went on and did their little combo ending with Weiss stabbing one of the sensors. Roman answered this by firing rockets at the pair who dodge through a series of backflips and jumps. Seeing his chance, he takes a shot at the midair heiress and hits her back, but before she hits the ground she cast a time dilation glyph for Blake. With the temporary boost Blake cuts all the missiles in half before they can cause any harm.

Ruby then runs up and calls "Ladybug" then Blake and Ruby ran underneath the robot doing alternate attacks before finally taking off an arm off the robot. With his back turned to her Yang jumped up and starting firing blast into the back of the robot. Roman makes the paladin jump back and breaks through three columns Yang-first before punching her through a fourth.

Blake calls out her name worried, but Ruby calms her with a short explanation of Yang's semblance. Meanwhile Yang is slowly getting up her hair glowing and eyes turning red. Roman throws a punch only for it to get blocked by one of her hands and the mech's arm gets blown off by a return punch of her own. Before she can do anything else Yang is kicked away. Ruby calls out "Bumblebee" and Blake throws her katana to her partner still holding onto the ribbon and using it to slingshot Yang towards the paladin. After the paladin is slowed down by and Iceflower combo Yang destroys the robot with a powerful punch.

Coming out of the wreckage completely unharmed and seemingly unfazed Roman dusts off his clothes and mutters to himself, "I just got this thing cleaned."

Yang shoots a blast form her weapon at Roman only for it to be blocked by a tri-colored girl with a parasol.

"Ladies, Ice Queen." "Hey" "Always a pleasure. Neo if you would?" With that Neo looked at the group especially Ruby smiling, and then winked towards them before going still.

Ruby already knowing what happened put away her baby as Yang ran forwards and punched the after-image Neo left that shattered upon impact.

"Well I guess he got a new henchman." Yang said to the group.

As Weiss spouted a horrible joke Ruby thought to herself 'I don't know if henchman is the right word here, but oh well.'

 _With Roman and Neo_

"Well that could of gone better." Roman sighed.

"I'm pretty happy I got to see Ruby again." Neo signed with a smile.

"Should I be worried by how close you two seem to be?" He asked.

"Of course not. If we have to fight them then I will enjoy myself to the fullest. She's probably the only one out of the four that can keep up with me."

"If you say so but remember for all intents and purposes you're enemies whenever we aren't alone. I don't care what you two do in bed." Roman said giving Neo a look.

"How'd you know about that?" Neo signed angrily.

"My partner's place has security cameras installed, and they were activated after the two of you got in without a key. There isn't one in the bedrooms, but both of you went in together and none of you came out till morning. We just kind of had a general idea of what happened." Roman shrugged. "Speaking of my partner." 'How's the search going?'

'It is going perfectly I have a location, and just for you I let him live.' Kyle said over the link.

'Anything important I should know about?'

'Not really. He wouldn't talk at first, so I had to have a little talk with him. If anything all I did was make him hate humanity more.' The reaper chuckled looking at the severed horn he was holding.

'Alright in case you were wondering I'm out a paladin now thanks to Red's little team.' He thought annoyed.

'And? It isn't like you payed for it just go steal another, or is that too tough for the 'master thief' Roman Torchwick.' He thought sarcastically.

While the duo were mentally bickering Neo thought about what he last said. 'Note to self: if we go to the reaper's again then have the keys or deactivate the cameras.'

 **A/N: Hey guys it's been a bit but here's the chapter. Anyone who is sad that I didn't include the ReaperxAdam fight don't worry I plan on making it a flashback kinda thing in a later chapter.**

 **Follow, favorite, review, etc.**

 **Hope everyone enjoyed**

 **~Laz out**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY**

Chapter 10

"Next up we have Team CRDL against partners Weiss Schnee and Ruby Rose. Would those that were just called move to the arena." Professor Goodwitch said looking at the two groups. The CRDL boys had smug looks on their faces and similarly RW had smiles on their faces as well.

"Oh Weiss this is going to be so much fun!" Ruby chirped.

"Calm down you dolt we have a fight to win." Weiss said looking to her partner.

"You guys are so sure of yourselves huh." Cardin said holding his mace on his shoulder and smirking at them.

"Well it isn't like this will be too difficult." Weiss said matter-of-factly.

"Weeeeiiisssss. Don't be mean to them just because they're weaker than us." Ruby said to her partner.

"That's enough banter get ready to begin." Goodwitch said holding her tablet.

 _3_

 _2_

 _1_

 _Begin!_

Ruby and Weiss looked at CRDL who were starting to encircle them.

"You're both pretty quiet now aren't you." Cardin said smugly.

Ruby and Weiss looked to each other before nodding and dashing at the nearest two opponents with the help of their semblances. Ruby went after Dove and Weiss after Sky. Dove and Sky weren't ready for the sudden attack and were both hit away.

Russell and Cardin who let out a growl ran after white and red. Cardin swung his mace down aiming to crush the cloaked scythe-wielder. Ruby just dodged to the right and swung her scythe around slashing at Cardin who grunted and stepped back. Weiss was fighting with Russell who was trying to overwhelm her with his quick dagger attacks. Weiss was just blocking and counter attacking when appropriate lowering his aura count with each successful hit. Sky who had gotten back up was trying to sneak around and hit Weiss from behind but wasn't paying attention to his own surroundings and got hit by a flying Dove courtesy of Ruby. Ruby was seemingly dancing around Cardin's slow attacks and really just playing with him.

"This match is already over." Kyle said looking at the poor excuse for a spar.

"You may have a point this time. They haven't made any headway against the partner duo, and don't seem very good at working together even after a semester." Goodwitch sighed.

"Should we call it? This is kind of sad." He said shaking his head.

"Yes we should. Alright the match is over the winners are Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee. You both did well in this fight, but Miss Schnee do remember to watch your back." Goodwitch said before looking at Team CRDL. "You Team CRDL need to work on your teamwork instead of going in one by one or two by two. You had the numbers advantage, so you should have come up with a better plan than trying to circle around them."

'She still plays with her opponents too much. In fact, I think it's gotten worse since she got to Beacon. I might have to fix that.' The reaper thought looking at his protégé.

"That's all the time we have for today remember the feedback we gave you all." Kyle said looking at the students. "Oh, and Miss Rose please see me after class."

Ruby looked at him confused before shrugging and grabbing her stuff. Goodwitch gave the reaper a weary look before walking out after the other students.

"You wanted to see me?" She asked.

"Yeah we need to talk. You've been playing with your opponents too much ever since you came to Beacon." Kyle said looking at his protégé who grinned sheepishly.

"I know I shouldn't, but I just get so bored in that class. None of them are close to Neo's level, and since I usually train with you or her I don't feel the need to take it completely seriously." She said looking down.

"I know how you feel trust me I do, but just because you don't initially think someone is strong doesn't mean that they aren't. Do you want to know about my current contract?" He asked.

She just nodded in response.

"I have to find the leader of the White Fang, but to find her I had to find someone who knew where she is. After attacking a few of their bases I finally drew out the one I wanted."

"So that was you! I knew it!" she interjected at his pause.

"Yeah anyways when I found the guy I was confident that I was almost done with this tedious assignment. Lo and behold I almost underestimated him."

 _Flashback_

"Well well well. What do we have here?" The reaper said looking at a man in black with reddish brown hair and a Grimm mask.

"I'm here to avenge my fallen comrades. Your terrorism of the faunas will end tonight!" Adam shouted readying his weapon Wilt and Blush.

"It is nice to make your acquaintance I am the reaper. Who are you?" Kyle said.

"Who I am doesn't matter to a monster like you. All you need to know is that I will be the cause of your death." He responded.

"How bold. You must be the one I'm looking for." Kyle said drawing Fate. The scythe might be too violent, and he was looking forward to a good sword fight.

Both stood waiting for the other to make the first move and Kyle decided to humor the bull and charged forward slashing away at the faunas who continuously blocked each attack. After seeing an opening Adam sheathed his sword before pulling its trigger and shooting the hilt of the sword out hitting the reaper in the face making him stagger back. Using the opening Adam slashed forward only to be blocked by Fate. Kyle pushed Adam's sword to the side with his own and kicked him in the chest knocking him back a few feet.

Adam grunted before going on the defensive again using each block to slowly charge his semblance attack (half crescent strike or something? I don't remember, but that sounds cool). Kyle saw that he was charging energy but wasn't sure what it was for. One thing people don't know about the reaper is that he is a very curious person, so he wanted to see what would happen not worrying about what the attack could do.

His wishes were fulfilled when he saw Adam go into a quickdraw attack stance. 'Hmm I wonder-' As soon as he saw the blade leave the sheathe he knew he had made a mistake. Unable to dodge immediately the reaper tried to parry the strike by meeting the slash before it was fully completed. Fortunately and unfortunately it worked, but only slowed down the slash long enough for the reaper to drop to the floor below the horizontal slash.

The top half of Fate fell behind his head clattering across the ground. The reaper seeing this was pissed. The slash had just reached its end, so the reaper grabbed his wrist and knocked the blade out of his hand with what was left of Fate. He then twisted and flipped Adam onto the ground still holding onto his wrist and pressuring it up against the faunas' back. Adam grunted genuinely confused. No one had survived being on the receiving end of his Half Crescent Strike… until now.

Kyle pushed Fate against the back of Adam's neck draining the bull's remaining aura until it broke. He then cut slightly into the skin. "Alright… it's time we had a chat. I am looking for someone, and I hear rumor that you may know where they are."

"I will never help a monster like you." Adam grunted.

"I see. Can I ask you a personal question then? What is it in this world that you hate the most?" He asked.

"What I hate the most! Is despicable humans like you!" He shouted.

"I see. Then tell me are you proud to be a faunas?"

"Of course I am! Everyone in the White Fang is proud of what we are." He gave the answer the reaper was hoping for.

"Well if you don't want to answer my questions I'd be happy to turn you into one of those humans you love so much." He warned.

"You wouldn't…" He started.

"Oh really?" He said pushing what was left of Fate against and into one of the bull's horns.

"Aaaghh." His screams were heard before he yelled. "What do you want?!"

"Sienna Kahn, where is she?" Kyle asked stopping the pressure.

"I won't give up the leader of the White Fang to someone like you." He said sharply.

"That's your choice then." The reaper said pushing back down into the horn and pushing through it cutting it off. Adam was screaming all the while.

"Do you want to talk yet?" He asked.

"No I won't…" He got out blood pouring out of his open wound.

"Very well then you can be a human from now on." Kyle said with a grin pushing into the other horn.

"N-No stop! I'll tell you. I'll tell you!" he screamed.

"See was that so hard?"

After getting what he needed, which took longer than it should of because someone tried to lie to him, he knocked the one-horned faunas out, and was getting ready to leave after a quick chat with Roman. Looking around he went and picked up the other half of his sword and looked at it.

"Well shit." Kyle muttered. 'I'm down a weapon for a while. I wonder if I should let Ruby have this as a pet project.'

 _Flashback end_

"Wait you broke Fate?" Ruby shrieked.

"Out of that entire story that's the part you question." He sighed. She was a weapon-nut through and through.

"Oh right what was the point of that story again?" She asked innocently.

"Don't play with your prey dumbass." He said flicking her forehead. "I let my curiosity get the better of me and almost died because of it."

"Alright alright I will focus more in fights, but here there is like no one fun to fight except maybe Pyrrha." She pouted.

"If that's how it is then I might have a few ideas. The first is simple let's have a little spar." Kyle said looking at the girl.

"Don't you have your scythe today? Wouldn't that be oh I don't know dangerous?" She asked.

"That's never stopped you before has it? Besides you might learn a little something about how to use this scythe." He said.

"What do you mean use it? You've never let me use your scythe." The mini-reaper pouted.

"I told you that you're to be the next Reaper didn't I?"

She nodded.

"So you will need to learn about the Reaper's weapon." He said. "Why do you think I never named this scythe, but I named the other two weapons?"

"I've been wondering that for a long time, and have asked YOU about it, but you never gave me an answer." She said pointing at him for emphasis.

"Well this scythe isn't mine to name." He said simply pulling it out.

"What do you mean it isn't yours to name?"

"This scythe has always belonged to the reaper. Similarly to the mask the scythe will seek out the new reaper when the old one dies and the mask has been donned. That is why I've never let you or anyone else use it. Simply put you can't. My predecessors know about as much about the scythe as the mask. With each new reaper comes a slightly different mask. By extension the scythe changes slightly as well whether it be size, design, or something else."

"You mean when I inherit the mask and put it on the scythe will appear or something?" She asked.

"Yeah pretty much. That's how it happened for me anyways." He responded with a shrug.

Before she could start talking again Kyle got back on track, "Anyways I digress. Are you up for a real fight or are you afraid?" He taunted.

"I'm not afraid!" She said pulling out her own scythe and unfurling it.

"Good." He said backing to the other side of the arena and pulling out his scythe. "It's been a while since you've faced this let's see how you've improved."

Both scythe wielders got ready and dashed at each other.

Ruby swung first making the reaper dodge to the side before responding with a swing of his own. Ruby jumped above the side slash and swung down aiming for the reaper's head. He brought up the shaft of his scythe and stopped hers and pushed her away.

"You'll have to do better than that." He said smirking.

"I'm just getting started!" She shouted defiantly.

She disappeared into a cloud of rose petals and seems to vanish. 'Hmm where will she pop up?'

His question was answered moments later when a blur of red slashed at his right side. He spun out of the way of the attack before looking around again. After that happened a few more times the reaper decided on a different tactic aside from dodging. After the next drive by attempt he closed his eyes and focused on listening. Using his aura to help him out a bit he was able to hear the constant pitter patter of Ruby running around.

'Hmm she has been getting a lot faster hasn't she. I might get around quickly, but she was made for speed in a way. She will pass me in that at the very least, so I guess she's got that going for her.' He mused to himself waiting.

When he heard a familiar rifle shot he immediately jumped into the air watching as the blur went right below him. Seeing he was in the air Ruby smirked and redirected shooting herself at her airborne teacher.

'Well shi-' He thought before getting knocked to the ground and rolling into a crouch.

Ruby stood before him smirking like she had won. "You landed a good hit I'm impressed, but if that's all you have you'll never beat me." He said before dashing at her.

Ruby tried to run out of the way, but before her semblance got her anywhere she felt a sharp pain in her gut. The reaper kneed her in the gut before kicking her away. "Never let your guard down." He said quietly.

Ruby stood up and got into her stance. 'I know this worked on Neo at least once, but I can't really get any faster than what he just dodged, so maybe it is time for a new idea.'

"Hey Kyle, can we step this up a bit?" She asked sweetly.

"How would you like to do that?" He asked having an idea of what she wanted.

"Well how about you release one of my seals." She said.

"If I release yours then I may have to release mine." He responded.

"We don't have to release all three, but let's do the first one I want to try something." She said hopefully.

"Hmm alright why not, but don't get used to this." He said before walking over to her and placing his hand on her mark. Both their marks glowed slightly before going back to normal.

"There now we've both temporarily undone the first mark, so what is this thing you want to try?" He was somewhat curious.

"Well you know how my semblance can work better than almost anyone here. Me being the exception." She started. "I want to see if what I did at the initiation can work on you."

"I guess you could give it a shot." He shrugged.

She smiled and started circling him using her semblance creating a storm of petals.

'So what exactly is she trying to do here?' He wondered to himself as the flurry got thicker. He smelled something but couldn't quite figure out what it was.

Suddenly, the flurry dispersed and when he looked he couldn't find his protégé. 'Hmm'

Ruby smiled to herself. She was standing a little way away while the reaper was looking around.

'Alright now's the perfect chance.' She thought before dashing towards him.

Kyle was still looking around before his instincts told him to move. He heard the whistling of air as a scythe blade passed where he had just been. "That's quite the trick Ruby." He said looking to the girl. "What exactly did you do?"

Ruby smiled proudly. "I have been working on that in secret for a bit. This is just my best guess, but in the little petal storm it can affect the senses. With the nevermore during initiation I was just messing with it's sense of sight and made it see one thing that was really another. That is why it attacked the deathstalker." She said.

"I thought about a possibility similar to that when you did it, but I feel like there was something different this time." He said.

"You're right this time I guess you can say I willed the roses to smell stronger." She said with a shrug before continuing, "When it was purely sight it didn't seem to be working well enough, so I added another sense to confuse you more."

"Interesting. If all the seals were released then you might be able to completely incapacitate a person through all of their senses." He said putting his hand to his chin and imagining it.

"Maybe. I knew that I had super speed, but I never really figured out why my semblance always released the petals. I thought for a while it was just for looks, but I stumbled on this by accident a while back. I've just been keeping quiet about it until I controlled it better." She said.

"That is an interesting concept. Semblances with multiple functions like the Ice Queens." He replied thoughtfully.

"Yeah I know it's so cool! It's like I have a trump card or something!" She said excitedly.

"A trump card huh? That might be useful to have, but how much does that little trick cost you in terms of aura and stamina?"

"It uses more than I care to admit." She said sheepishly.

"I thought so. What if you were to face someone like me who was able to get out of the way quick enough?" He asked.

Ruby sighed. "I will have to keep getting better, so that won't happen."

"Yes you will, and now since our little spar is over I will tell you my new plan to alleviate your boredom a bit in these classes." He said.

"Oh really what is it? What is it?" She asked excitedly.

"Do you remember a while back when I mentioned something about a secondary weapon for you, but never got around to giving it to you?"

"Yes." She said frowning. "I was so excited, but you kept saying 'I'll go get it soon.'"

"Heh heh .., yea well good news I did finally get around to grabbing it." He said.

"Oh really! Show me! Show me! Show me!" She screamed jumping up and down.

Kyle just shook his head at his student's excitement before fishing a dagger out of somewhere. Ruby looked at the dagger. It was a simple looking design at first glance, but looking closer Ruby saw that it was a transformational weapon. "I want you to use this in sparring classes, so you can learn a new weapon that fits with your style, and as a bonus it happens to have a few tricks in it.

"Oooooo. What's it do?" She asked.

"Well this dagger has a little trick it can do. If you press the release button here on the hilt the blade can fold out and separate in two." He said showing her how to separate the blades and then put them back together.

"Whoa it's so cool. Why don't you use it?" She asked.

"Well it just didn't fit my style really. From what I've seen it works best when used with short and quick dashes, and a few combo attacks. I can do it to a point, but it isn't how I like to fight. You on the other hand are always dashing around like a madwoman."

"Hey"

"So I thought this might work well for you." He finished after getting interrupted.

"Alright next question where did you get this? Its design looks a little too detailed to have been made by you." She said with a smug look on her face.

The reaper rolled his eyes before responding. "You're right I didn't make that I got it from an old crow I met in my travels." He said remembering something.

"Do you mean my uncle Qrow?" She asked.

"Qrow Branwen? No the crow I'm talking about was quite a bit older than him, but I have run across him a few times." He said.

"Then what kind of person were they?" Ruby asked.

"She was a hunter of sorts, but she didn't hunt Grimm as much as she hunted corrupt hunters and huntresses. Our targets would sometimes be the same person, so I got to know her a bit before her passing." He said with a sad smile.

"W-what happened to her?" Ruby asked. Kyle wasn't one to be sad over someone's death, so this must have been different.

"She bit off more than she could chew with one of her targets. I found her lying in a pool of her own blood. I was curious about what happened, so I asked, and she just laughed before saying her old age had caught up with her. What happened next is the part that I still don't understand. If I remember right she said something along the lines of, 'Reaper… I know that we kill people for different reasons… and eventually we probably would've become enemies… but I do want to give you my weapon… if I don't someone worse might come along and find it… and even if you don't use it maybe you will pass it along to someone else… she was such a dependable weapon…'" He said taking a breath before sighing. "In my line of work people don't usually trust me, and for good reason, but for whatever reason she had some kind of trust in me, or she was just being weird and cryptic again. She did that a lot, but I like to think it's the first one." He finished.

"Wow…" Ruby said looking down at the dagger. "What's her name?"

The reaper smiled before answering. "She told me it was called Mercy."

 **A/N: Alright honesty time. I was planning on moving along with the canon some more, but I ended up with this and liked it. A few things I might need to explain are yes they both have seals. No they aren't activated at the same time every time. Yes when fighting people outside of training the reaper usually has at least one seal removed. Glynda's fight included. And finally no Ruby can't release her own seals... yet.**

 **This chapter is really just explaining a few things while giving you all your dose of decent-poorly written action scenes. Oh also finally getting Ruby her new weapon. Speaking of which who and where did I get that weapon from? It's not that hard, but comment if you know.**

 **Review, favorite, follow, etc.**

 **I hope you all enjoyed this. I must've since it turned into 3 and a half k words without me noticing.**

 **~Laz out**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY**

Chapter 11

"She told me it was called Mercy." The Reaper said.

Just outside the room Glynda Goodwitch was trying to process what all she just heard. 'Who is Neo? Why is he after Sienna Kahn? Has he really been the one attacking the White Fang recently? The next reaper? A crow themed hunter using special dagger weapons. It could only be the rogue hunter Eileen. Ms. Rose's semblance abilities. There are so many questions I need to speak with the headmaster.' She thought to herself before hurrying down the hall.

Back in the room Kyle realizes something feels different. 'It feels like something is missing now…. shit.' He thought before shrugging. "Well kiddo I think we have had an eavesdropper listen in on our little talk."

"We would've noticed." Ruby said raising an eyebrow.

"Obviously not, I just noticed a presence heading away from this room, but it never approached. There are very few people who could hide that well. I have a sneaking suspicion at least one of us will have a meeting with the headmaster soon. Either way we should both go if that happens. He will want answers, and I'm sure I can get something out of this too." He said putting his hands on his hips.

"Alright I'll keep that in mind. Before I go check up on my team do you know when we will be able to see Neo and Roman again?" She asked.

"What are you already missing your little girlfriend?" Kyle asked with a smirk.

"W-what no Neo is not my girlfriend. I mean I wouldn't mind she does have- wait wait no I just want to talk to her and ask her some questions." She finally got out sporting a huge blush.

"Mhmm" He said not believing anything he just heard, "anyways we should see them this weekend, but if someone wanted to see one of the duo early I don't think they have any heists on Friday, so you could probably see your girlfriend after classes on Friday."

"She isn't my girlfriend!" Ruby pouted in her adorable way.

"Whatever you say anyways you should head off I have some free time now, so I get to relax." He said walking to the room's exit.

"Alright." She said before zipping out of the room looking for her team.

'So much energy it never ceases to amaze me. Now then what should I do for the next few hours?' He wondered to himself leaving the room behind his protégé.

 _With Ruby_

Ruby found her team in the cafeteria eating with team PNJR.

"Hey guys what's going on?" She asked.

"Oh hey Rubes not much. What'd that creep want with you this time?" Yang asked. She didn't seem to like the reaper very much.

"What creep?" Ruby asked.

"The reaper of course." Yang said looking at her sister.

"Kyle is NOT a creep Yang!" Ruby said through grit teeth.

"I don't know if you've noticed Ruby, but he always seems to be watching you more than anyone else in class." Yang responded.

"Yes, I have noticed, but did you ever think there was a reason why he did that?" Ruby asked. Her patience with her half-sister was starting to wear thin.

"Yeah because he is creeping on you." Yang said stubbornly.

"That or maybe it's because I asked him to!" Ruby said in a louder voice. 'I can't really tell them why I have to keep getting better, but I can tell them this much.' She thought.

"Why would you ask him to do that?" Weiss asked confused.

"He basically taught me everything I know about fighting, so he can see all the flaws in my fighting style. That's one of the reasons he asked me to stay behind earlier." Ruby answered in a half-truth.

"One reason? What was the other?" Yang asked.

"Oh he gave me a new weapon that he had told me about a while back." Ruby said happily.

"Why do you need a new weapon?" Pyrrha asked.

"There were a few reasons, but that isn't important right now. You all will get to see it in the next sparring class." Ruby said with a smile.

"Alright then…" Pyrrha said.

Soon they had moved onto a different topic and were enjoying their lunch with the exception of Blake who had left earlier.

"So you guys are helping with the dance?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yeah Team CFVY hasn't returned from their mission yet, so they asked Weiss and I to help out." Yang replied.

"Are you all looking forward to the dance then?" Jaune asked.

Weiss gave him a half nod while Yang said 'Yep', but Ruby was still thinking about their other team member. "None of it will matter if we can't get Blake to relax and go to the dance." Ruby said with a sigh.

"Don't worry about her I will make sure she goes to the dance." Yang said with a grin.

'For some reason that doesn't make me feel any better.' Ruby thought.

 _With Roman and Neo_

Neo kicked Roman's shin.

"Ow! Hey! What was that for?" Roman asked rubbing his now sore shin.

"I'm bored." Neo signed.

"What do you want me to do about that?" Roman asked.

"Find something for me to do, or else I steal your wallet and spend all your money on ice cream." Neo threatened.

"Why not just steal the ice cream?" He sighed.

"That's no fun." She replied.

"You're impossible you know that." He said wiping his hand down his face.

"I try." Neo signed cheekily.

"Instead of bothering me why don't you go bother Red?" He asked.

Neo thought on it for a moment before grinning and signing, "Ask the reaper when she is done with classes for the day she is probably close if not done already."

"I was just kidding, oh well fuck it." 'Hey Kyle, when's red done with classes for the day?'

'Her last class ended a little bit ago why?'

'Could you get her alone for a moment?'

'Ummm sure?' he thought before texting Ruby to come to his room. 'Now why am I ding this?' He asked.

'You'll see.' Roman said cryptically.

 _With Kyle_

'What is Roman asking me to do this for?' He asked himself before hearing a knock. Standing up he walked over to the door and opened it up to see his red-cloaked student.

"Why did you want to see me again so soon?" Ruby asked.

"No idea, but I guess I'll find out in a mo-"

There was a sudden flash of white and Neo was behind Ruby. In another flash both girls were gone.

"-ment…" He finished before shaking his head.

'We need to get them separate scrolls to communicate because that was just stupid.' Kyle thought to Roman.

'I know trust me. Are they still there?'

'No. Neo instantly left with Ruby. Aren't they there?'

'No… Those two are going to give me such a headache.'

'You and me both Ro.'

 _With Ruby and Neo_

In a flash of white Ruby looks around. "Who? What? Where? How- Neo! Hi!." Ruby suddenly smiled to the ice-cream girl.

"Hiya Ruby. I was bored, so Roman suggested I bother you." Neo signed.

"Well alright then I wanted to talk to you about a few things anyways." Ruby said

"Alright we can talk, but first let's go somewhere a little more private." She responded.

The two were standing in an empty alley way, and Ruby could see the point of going elsewhere. After walking to the same café they had first met at they sat in a corner booth that had a good view of the door.

"What's on your mind." Neo finally asked.

"Well there were a few different things." Ruby started.

"Would one of them be me?" She signed with a sultry smile.

"W-what? No I-I mean yes. Wait no ugh…" Ruby muttered after the initial panic. Neo was trying to hold her laugh as best she could but failed.

"I was just messing with you. What do you want to talk about?" She asked after recovering from her laughing fit.

'Aside from your sexy a- Wait no! Bad Ruby get your mind out of the gutter!' "First I wanted your thoughts on something." Ruby said hoping there wasn't a noticeable blush on her face.

Neo was curious about what had the cloaked girl blushing but decided to question that later. "Go ahead." She signed.

"Well you know my teammates, right?" She asked.

"Your blonde bombshell sister, the snooty heiress, and the cat-girl, right?"

"Yeah the cat-girl Blake has been working herself to death trying to figure out why the White Fang is working with Roman, and she's not listening to any of us." Ruby said with a sad frown.

"Well that is a tough one. I don't know why you wanted to ask me though. I am you know somewhat insane, so what I may suggest wouldn't work too well." Neo said.

"Yeah I know, and I'm getting to that point too, but I don't know who else to talk to. My team isn't very helpful aside from Yang who has her own idea, and hey that might work, but who knows. I can't talk to Kyle because I'm pretty sure he is part of why she is freaking out so much."

"What do you mean?" Neo asked.

"Well you know about his recent attacks on the Fang bases right?" She asked.

"Yes." She thought of the sorry state of a certain angry bull faunas.

"Well apparently she gave him the first few base locations without knowing why he wanted them." Ruby said.

"She isn't the brightest is she?" Neo asked.

"Neooooo don't be mean to my teammates." Ruby whined.

"Fine fine." Neo said with a laugh. "Well aside from that what else did you want to talk about?"

"Well I did want to show you the new weapon Kyle gave me earlier today." Ruby said happily.

"Well come on and show me." Neo signed.

"Here she is." Ruby said pulling out her new dagger and showing Neo.

"Oh what's so special about that?" She asked with a quirked eyebrow.

Ruby then went to show the transformation of Mercy, but before she could the waitress came back over and told her to put the weapon away.

After eating they decided to visit their favorite place. An abandoned warehouse, so that Neo could see and help test the new weapon.

After going through some basics with the new weapon Ruby worked on alternating between attacking and defending with the new weapon, and through this she realized she would have to rely more on dodging rather than blocking. Neo on her end was used to the normal superspeed Ruby dashed around with, but with a much lighter weapon the girl was much harder to keep up with, so it became a workout for the both of them.

 _With Kyle_

 _Knock_

 _Knock_

 _Knock_

Kyle sighs sitting up from his bed where he was reading. 'Now who could this be?' He thought as he looked through the peephole. In the peephole was a familiar blonde bombshell. 'Oh wonderful' He thought rolling his eyes before opening the door and giving a nice fake smile. "What can I do for you Ms. Xiao Long?"

"I wanted to see if you knew where Ruby was we haven't seen her since dinner where she ran off somewhere." Yang answered worriedly.

"Sorry I haven't seen her. Have you tried calling her?" The reaper asked.

"Of course we have, but she has a bad habit of not answering her scroll." Yang huffed clearly annoyed at that.

"Well sorry, but again I haven't seen her, so if that's all you needed then I'll get back to what I was doing." He said moving to close the door.

"Actually, there is one thing I wanted to ask you." Yang said stopping the door from closing.

"Okay? Ask then." He deadpanned.

"I want to know why you two are so close. She is always willing to defend you, and you two always seem to have an idea of what the other is doing." Yang said looking at the reaper with narrowed eyes.

'I don't know where she got that second part, but whatever.' "We are close because of how we know each other I guess." He said.

"What does that mean?" She asked.

"Well she came and found me with next to nothing aside from a few lien and the clothes on her back, and over the past few years I have been her stand-in guardian and friend." He said with a shrug.

"Did she ever say anything? You know about her family?" Yang asked looking down.

"She gave me a basic summary of what happened after her mom died, and that's about it. I didn't want to push and ask, and she didn't want to share, so I left it alone. It seemed like a sensitive topic and judging by her reaction when she first saw you I stand by that assumption." He said looking at the blonde brawler.

"Right… thanks for your time." She mumbled walking away.

"No problem." He said before closing the door and laying back down.

 _With Neo and Ruby_

After around an hour the two were sitting in the middle of the warehouse back to back panting with their weapons next to them.

"This… is going to take some… getting used to." Ruby said between breathes.

Neo nods even though they are facing away from each other and Ruby can't see it.

"Hey Neo…" Ruby said turning to the girl.

Neo gave a questioning look telling her to go on.

"You're going to Beacon undercover soon right?" She asked.

Neo nods.

"Well… the dance is coming up, and I was wondering… would you like to go with me if you can?" Ruby asked looking at the girl in front of her.

Neo just looked at her before smiling and nodding yes quickly.

"Yay!" Ruby cheered hugging the other girl.

Neo just laughs silently at how cute Ruby could be before hugging back. After a minute the two separate smiling.

"Hmmm what to do now…" Ruby asks.

Neo looks at her scroll and sees that it has gotten late, and somebody had school tomorrow. "I should probably get you back."

"Yeah you're right, but first…" The crimsonette starts.

Neo is about to sign 'First what?' but is interrupted when a pair of lips press against hers. She waits a moment before returning the kiss. After a few more minutes like this the two separate breathing heavily. "You know I think I like you Neo." Ruby said with a blush.

"I'd certainly hope so." Neo smirked before giving her another short kiss and smiling.

Before they started doing anything else Neo teleported them back to Kyle's room to find him still reading.

"Have a fun time you two?" The reaper asked with a knowing grin.

Ruby blushed and smiled while Neo grinned and nodded before disappearing in a flash of white.

"Oh by the way your sister stopped by and was looking for you." Kyle said flipping the page in his book.

"Oh yeah I did leave without saying much of anything didn't I?" Ruby thought aloud.

"From the sound of it yeah pretty much." He said without looking up.

"Well I should go let them know I'm alright." Ruby said walking out the door.

When she was gone the reaper looked up at where she had just been. 'Interesting.'

Ruby was skipping her way through the halls to her dorm area, and upon rounding a corner she ran straight into someone.

"Oh oww I'm sorry." She said getting up and offering a hand to the student she knocked over. Looking at the hand hesitantly a mature dark-haired girl with bright amber-colored eyes took the offered hand.

"It's alright just watch where you're going." She said looking over the short girl.

"Well I'm Ruby. Ruby Rose it's nice to meet you." She said happily to the girl in front of her and the two flanking her.

"My name is Cinder, and behind me are Emerald and Mercury." Cinder said with Mercury nodding at his name, and Emerald giving a polite wave at hers.

Ruby pauses a moment but covers it up acting like she is looking the three over. "It's nice to meet you. I haven't seen any of you around here before. Are you here for the Vytal Festival?" Ruby asked.

"Yes we are attending the festival, and visiting from Haven academy." Cinder answered the girl's question.

"Oh well the dorms for Haven students are that way." Ruby said pointing.

"Thank you… we must have gotten turned around." Cinder said as she walked by. "Maybe we will see you around." She said with a sultry tone.

'Maybe, but I hope not.' She thought as she waved. When they had turned the corner, Ruby went back to her own room, and on the way texted Kyle. "Your partner's boss is here with her little group."

"Oh are they now? This should be fun." The reaper replied.

When she got back Yang was instantly asking if she was alright and where she had been.

"Yes Yang I'm fine, and I had to do some training with the new weapon." Ruby answered.

"I was worried. I finally got Blake over here to agree to go to the dance." She said pointing to the cat faunas who was reading. Ruby gave a sigh of relief upon hearing that. "Then after that we realized you still hadn't come back and were worried." She finished her teammates nodding in agreement. That was a rare sight.

"Sorry about that I was just so excited to try the new weapon I couldn't wait, and I forgot to tell you what I was doing and where I was going." Ruby said sheepishly rubbing the back of her head.

"Just be sure to let one of us know next time. It's difficult for a team to run perfectly without their leader even if it is just daily tasks." Weiss said from her bunk.

"Alright I will work on that." Ruby said jumping into her bed and getting beneath the covers.

"Goodnight team RWBY." She said quietly. 'Goodnight Neo.'

 _With Neo_

'She asked me to the dance… I can't wait.' Neo thought before falling into her own bed and going to sleep. 'Goodnight Ruby.'

 **A/N:**

 **Hey guys hope you enjoy**

 **Follow, Favorite, Review, and whatever else you all do.**

 **-Laz Out**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY**

Chapter 12: Reality Check Part One

 _The Next Morning_

"Good Morning Team RWBY!" Ruby enthusiastically yelled from the middle of the room.

"Huh… what… I'm UP I'M U-" Yang says as she falls out of her bed and onto the floor. "Now I'm down…"

Ruby smirked. "That's one down. Two more to go." She got a 'boo' from Yang.

Blake quietly sat up and stretched out her back. Meanwhile Weiss just groaned in annoyance. "Do we really have to do this every day?" She asked.

"As long as I keep waking up before you then yes." Ruby said happily. "It is my job as team leader to have my team up and ready for the day remember."

"Yeah yeah." Weiss replied yawning in a very unladylike manner.

While her team was going through the process of showering and getting dressed Ruby just sat in a desk chair with a smile on her face. 'Today is gonna be a good day I can just feel it.' Ruby thought to herself. The universe heard her thought and saw it as a challenge.

"Alright are you guys ready for class?" Ruby asked when they were all finally dressed.

"""Yeah""" Came the response from the other three in unison.

"Alright then let's go!" Ruby said running out the door with the rest of her team following her after an eyeroll from Weiss.

 _With Ruby ahead of the others_

'Whenever I look at them I get this feeling that I'm the odd one out.' Ruby thought thinking of her team. 'It makes sense I mean compared to me they have been spending a lot more time together. Me being off constantly with Kyle, Roman, and Neo is probably a big part of it, and if that was all then I wouldn't mind, but… I feel like they distance themselves from me compared to how they were the first semester even Yang, which in hindsight is better for my health what with those hugs of hers. I'm getting the feeling that they don't completely trust me which again in hindsight is smart because they haven't seen the other side of me, but still it isn't a pleasant feeling.' As she was lost in thought she bumped into someone and fell back on her butt. Looking up she spotted one of her least favorite people in the academy.

"Hey watch where you're going!" Came the annoyed shout from one Cardin Winchester.

Ruby picked herself up and dusted herself off. As much as she didn't like the tone he was using he had a point it was her fault since she wasn't paying attention. "Sorry about that wasn't paying attention to where I was going." She laughed sheepishly rubbing the back of her head.

"Whatever don't let it happen again pipsqueak." He said shouldering past her.

She scowled. 'Well that was rude, but I don't need to cause a scene with class starting soon. Speaking of which where'd my team go?' She thought to herself.

 _With WBY_

"I don't know what to think anymore." Yang sighed to her teammates. She couldn't help but feel that something was off with her little sister. Despite the happy cheery mood she always seemed to be in it just didn't feel like it used to. It felt different to her.

"About what?" Blake asked her partner.

"Ruby. She just seems different." Yang said.

"Different how?" Weiss asked.

"You know just different. She isn't the same little girl she was when we were younger." Yang responded.

"What caused this change? Ruby has seemed like the same person to me for the time that I've known her. Happy, cheery, energetic, somewhat distanced from people, and kind of secretive." Blake said.

"That's just it before she left home she was never distanced from her friends. Shy yes, but not distanced, and she never kept secrets or lied. She just felt bad about it, so she didn't do it." Yang answered.

"What exactly made her leave home?" Weiss asked somewhat curious. The two sisters never really talked about their homelife aside from that conversation the night we had been made into teams.

Yang sighed looking at the classroom door in front of them. "I can tell you more later, but it had to do with her mom's death." Yang said walking into the class to see her sister waving at them.

As the girls walked in and sat down for class Weiss and Blake were coming up with different questions about what Yang said and noting them for later.

As Port's class went on the girls did their usual things in the class. Weiss taking notes when necessary, Blake reading while also taking notes, Yang sleeping, and Ruby just looking around or daydreaming. Her daydreaming was interrupted when a ball of paper hit her head. Looking around Ruby saw a snickering team CRDL.

Ruby turned back to the front of the class and frowned. 'Strike one CRDL.' She thought while pulling out her scroll.

'Can we talk after this period for a minute?' She texts Kyle.

A minute or so later she feels her scroll vibrate with a message saying 'Sure'. After that another piece of paper was thrown at her with her just tallying the second strike. Shortly after the class ended and Ruby told her team not to wait up for her and walked in the direction of the combat classroom.

Yang held in her sadness and anger at what happened. She saw what CRDL did and was pissed but was saddened when she saw Ruby texting Kyle and heading to him rather than going to her team or sister about it. She merely sighed and saw her two teammates looking at Ruby's retreating form before turning back to her expectantly. "Alright I guess I should start by telling you about her mom, my stepmom, Summer Rose." She said to the two.

 _With Ruby_

When she got to the classroom she was looking for she walked in to find Kyle and Glynda talking about something probably the class before. Looking up Glynda saw Ruby and frowned in question before Kyle said not to worry about it and walked over. "I'll be back before next class" Kyle said with a wave.

"Having fun?" Ruby asked.

"Of course, you know how it is. Her 'subtly' trying to get information and me being a pain in the ass acting blissfully ignorant." He said with a chuckle as they reached the hall. "Anyways enough about me what's up?" He asked.

"I was wondering you think about team CRDL?" Ruby asked innocently.

"Aside from being a general disgrace to what it means to be huntsmen not much why?" He replied.

"I was just wondering. What do you think Ozpin thinks about them?" She asked again.

"Why are you so curious about them are you trying to see if you can get away with murder or something?" Kyle asked with a smile.

Ruby at least had the shame to blush slightly. "What no I would never kill another student I was just wondering about partial dismemberment." Ruby said. While he didn't believe the first half of the sentence he just shrugged it off with a proud smile.

"My little prodigy is growing up fast. Already plotting the death of your classmates I'm so proud." He said wiping a fake tear away.

Ruby just pouted and mumbled something about milk.

"So what has the resident group of bullies done to earn your wrath?" Kyle asked curiously as he pulled out his scroll.

"They're standing on thin ice." Ruby said darkly.

"How thin?"

"They're already at strike two with me personally and add on what they've done in the past you guess." She said.

"Hmm that's thin alright." He said dialing Ozpin's number. After a few tones the line is picked up.

"This is a bit of a surprise coming from you, but what can I do for you Kyle?" Ozpin asked.

"I just wanted to know what you thought of a specific team that has been causing problems." Kyle said.

"What team did you have in mind?" Ozpin asked thinking of a few possibilities.

"Team CRDL."

"They aren't special by any means. Mr. Winchester has some decent strength, but that's about all that separates them from average. Why do you ask?"

"I was brought to the attention of some bullying by a student and was curious."

"You know how I see bullying here." Ozpin started. "The students must handle and resolve issues among themselves even if Miss Rose is involved." Ozpin finished.

"Alright I was just making sure, and if need be I will hold you to that." Kyle said with a smile closing the scroll. "The students are to resolve issues regarding other students without the interference of the staff." He said with a dark smile.

"Thank you for letting me know." Ruby said with a dark grin of her own. "Now Mercy or Crescent Rose? Oh I will enjoy this." Ruby said to herself as she turned around heading to join with the rest of her team.

Kyle watched her go and just laughed a little 'Poor choice of words Ozpin. You should have added that we only interfere if absolutely necessary, but as it stands this is no longer our problem.' He thought walking back to his classroom with Goodwitch.

 _With Ruby_

'I hope for their sakes they don't push it.' Ruby thought. 'Or else their careers as hunters might end before they can even begin.'

When she finally got back to where her next class was she frowned. 'That took longer than I thought it would.' Class had already started. She walked in and Dr. Oobleck didn't even stop what he was doing. "You're late Ms. Rose. Detention!" He said quickly before turning around and continuing with the lesson as if he hadn't stopped.

When she sat down her team looked at her, but something was different in the look. After thinking for a moment, the word sympathetic popped into her mind, but that didn't seem right. She was just late it wasn't a big deal.

Her teammates had been thinking of what they had just heard from Yang.

 _Flashback_

" _Alright I guess I should start by telling you about her mom, my stepmom, Summer Rose. Summer was supermom, defender of good and baker of cookies. She was a huntress like the rest of our family, and one day left for a mission never to return. At the time I realized what had happened, but Ruby was still too young to understand. My dad was heartbroken, and I later learned it was because this was the second wife he lost. My mom being the first._

 _The change was slow but as time went on we distanced ourselves from Ruby because to the rest of us she was a reminder. To my dad she was a reminder of not just Summer, but both loves that he had lost. My uncle was affected in a similar way and seemed just as crushed as dad that Summer was gone, but I never really understood why. I was reminded that two of my moms had left my life, so I focused more on finding out about my real mom._

 _One day a few years ago she had just up and left. No notes or anything she had just taken some clothes and lien and just disappeared. I was worried, but with me starting at Signal soon there wasn't a lot for me to do plus the fact that I was too young to leave out on my own and look for her. My dad broke down again and was always angry with himself. When Uncle Qrow visited and found out the only thing my dad could say was 'Sorry Qrow.' After a good punch on my dad he left the house to look for her. His bad luck struck again, and he was sent on a mission to a different kingdom before he could find out where Ruby had run off to. That was the last any of us saw of her until I came here to find her with the reaper. The others still don't know. I was asked not to tell dad, and Qrow is still on that mission." Yang finished_

 _Flashback end_

While it wasn't the worst childhood story the two girls had heard, they both knew the feeling of loneliness that she no doubt felt. Weiss' family was always cold, and with her father always expecting perfection it only made it worse. The only saving grace being her sister Winter who wasn't there all the time.

Blake when she finally saw what the White Fang had become had never felt more alone in the world. She was still too scared to try and contact her real family, and the family she had known in the White Fang had completely changed.

Yang's look was just a look of guilt and regret for what she had done, and how ultimately it had been her and the rest of the family's actions that changed the bright young girl they once knew.

"What's with the looks guys?" Ruby asked once she sat down next to her team.

"O-oh it's nothing." Weiss said looking back towards Dr. Oobleck.

"Alright then…?" Ruby said looking forward. Lucky for them CRDL were on the opposite side of the room, so they didn't try to do anything.

The class passed without much incident and after that they made their way to the cafeteria and sat with team PNJR like usual.

They were eating and talking like they usually did. Today's topic was again about the dance coming up.

"Have you guys picked out what you're going to wear yet?" Pyrrha asked the group.

"I have mine." Yang said with a grin.

"I wasn't planning on going until recently, so I still need to pick mine out." Blake said looking up from her book.

"I have selected an appropriate dress for the festivities." Weiss answered.

"I've got mine already as well." Ruby added on.

Before they could continue talking about the dance something hit Ruby in the head. Said something was a cupcake and looking around she saw team CRDL laughing.

"That's strike three." Ruby muttered under her breath.

CRDL were looking over at the young caped girl and her friends expecting to see some anger, crying, frustration the usual. The first thing they heard was a growl from Pyrrha and Yang. Guess Pyrrha had finally had enough with them. What they saw next scared them. They looked to the cloaked girl and saw her staring them down almost hungrily with a small smile on her face.

A moment later she was gone in a flurry of rose petals. Cardin was about to look for the girl when he felt the cold of steel against his neck pushing on his aura.

"You know… I'm not sure that I like this whole bullying thing you guys do, and after checking I learned from the faculty how we are supposed to deal with it… do you want to know what they said?" Ruby asked coldly with a smile.

"What are you talking about you little bitch?" Cardin growled. His goon squad was at a loss for what to do with the warped looking blade at their leader's neck. Ruby decided to go with Mercy since she always had her on her.

"Students are to resolve conflicts with other students among themselves… guess what that means for you?" She said splitting the blade in two and stabbing the second one into his right hand.

He screamed because the blade had broken through his aura on his hand since he was focusing most of it to his neck where the other blade was still pushing. After hearing his scream his teammates broke out of their stupor and tried attacking the girl.

She disappeared from behind Cardin when two of the others made a grab for her. She reappeared between the two of them on her hands and kicked out to both sides knocking the two away. The third came from behind and was looking to tackle her, but she jumped above him as he came closer and spun in the air before bringing her foot down on his head smashing his face into and through the table. Standing straight again she looked towards Cardin since the others were down for the moment. The one who just went through the table was out cold, so he would take a bit longer than the others.

Cardin looked back towards the girl clutching his hand and saw his teammates all down around her with her staring straight into his soul. He started to back away but in an instant she was in front of him. He fell back onto his butt and looked up in fear holding his uninjured hand in front of himself in an effort to keep her away.

"That is Enough!" shouted an angry Goodwitch who was marching forward followed by a bored looking Kyle. When he saw the sight, a small smile came to his face.

"What is the meaning of this?" Glynda asked furious walking towards the scene.

"After asking the faculty I learned that bullying was to be taken care of by the students not the teachers, so I decided to take care of the problem I was having." Ruby said calmly.

"Just because we encourage students to fend for themselves that doesn't mean you can mutilate the other students!" Glynda yelled. Kyle just smirked from behind her. 'Again, poor choice of words.' He thought.

Ruby looked to Cardin's hand. "That isn't mutilation all I did was stab through his hand." She said swiping her sword blindingly fast and severing the hand he was still holding up from the rest of his arm. "That is mutilation, or specifically dismemberment." She finished with a smile. The next thing she knew she was floating with a purplish hue surrounding her.

Cardin was screaming in pain clutching his wrist to try and stop the bleeding and the other students were having their own reactions. Her team and friends looked horrified not with the sight itself, but the fact that she smiled afterwards was terrifying. Other students might've felt sick with a few actually getting sick, but four other individuals looked on with curiosity. One of the four had a smile on her face. Cinder looked at the girl they had met the night before with interest. 'Is this the same innocent girl we met yesterday?' She thought to herself.

Emerald voiced the question looking to her teammates. Mercury just nodded while Neo in her disguise kept smiling.

"Why're you smiling?" Emerald asked looking at the girl.

She just typed out "Nothing like dismemberment in the morning I like it here."

Emerald paled slightly at that before looking back to the scene, and away from the giggling sociopath.

Goodwitch looked to some nearby students and yelled at them. "Don't just stand there get these four to the infirmary, and make sure to grab his hand." She said turning around and walking out the door with a floating Ruby and walking Kyle close behind.

"Where are we going?" Ruby asked curiously.

"Well if it were up to me you would be on your way out of this academy." She said coldly before sighing "But it isn't up to me, so for now we are going to see Professor Ozpin."

"Alright then can you let me down?" Ruby asked hopefully.

"No I don't need you trying to run off." She replied.

"I won't run off I don't have anywhere to go at the moment with Kyle still here." 'And Neo is here too.' She added on in thought.

"I'm not taking the risk of that." Glynda said with finality.

Ruby looked to Kyle the best she could. He shrugged. "If you want to get out then do it yourself I taught you how remember." He said receiving a glare from Glynda.

Ruby nodded (or tried to) and focused her aura bringing it to her core before letting it build up and burst out disrupting the professor's semblance.

"Why would you teach her how to get out of my semblance." Glynda said through gritted teeth.

"I guess saying 'because I could' wouldn't help the situation would it?" He asked only for the glare to intensify.

"Hey look we're here!" Ruby said jumping between the two. They had just arrived at the base of Ozpin's clocktower.

"Yes, now let's go." Glynda said walking ahead and into the elevator with the other two behind her.

The elevator doors shut and started rising.

 **A/N:**

 **I wonder what will happen next. Anyways I'm sorry everyone this took way too long for me to get out.**

 **I wanted to thank everyone who follows, favorites, or reviews. I appreciate it guys, and it's fun to see as well as give ideas. This chapter focused more on Ruby with her team because someone mentioned that I hadn't been doing that. I stopped and thought hey you're right, so I made this.**

 **One more thing I thought I might as well add was a bit of a tribute to one of the reasons this story came into existence. One of the first memorable RWBY fics I read that I really enjoyed was The Red Queen series by Dravyn LeCrux, so if you haven't looked into some of his stories check him out. His was probably the first dark Ruby story I read, and I've been hooked ever since.**

 **One important thing for everyone to know is that yes I read every review, and will continue to not mention them unless it is answering a question or something like this one mentioned below. I'm not trying to be mean or play favorites or something this is just how I respond to the reviews.**

 **One review that I thought was interesting from KHARAKI TAKAN said something about this being one of his favorite stories with an OC and I am thankful for that. One thing you all probably don't know is when I read these different fics I almost never read ones with an OC tag. It just made me realize that while I never read OC heavy stories my first story had an OC that plays a decently sized part in the story. I don't know it just made me laugh a bit.**

 **Like usual Follow, Favorite, Review, and whatever else you all do.**

 **~Laz out**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY, but that would be interesting.**

Chapter 13

 _Ozpin's Office_

Professor Ozpin was enjoying his afternoon drinking his coffee and looking out over the school. Then he heard the ding of the elevator and sighed. 'So much for my quiet morning.' He thought to himself before telling the group outside to come in.

When the door opened a pissed looking Glynda walked in followed by one Ruby Rose and Kyle.

"Hello Glynda, what seems to be the problem?" Ozpin asked before taking a sip from his mug.

"Just a few minutes ago Miss Rose here assaulted Team CRDL and cut off Mr. Winchester's hand." She responded calmly, but you could tell she was pissed.

Ozpin for his part merely raised an eyebrow from over his mug and looked from Ruby to the reaper. "Miss Rose… is what she said true? Did you assault a fellow team and dismember a fellow leader?"

"Yep." She said popping the 'p'. "They were trying to bully me because I accidentally bumped into Cardin this morning, and after finding out about the bullying policy here I decided to take care of the matter." She said with a smile.

Ozpin then looked to the reaper. "Is this why you called and asked about them this morning?" He asked.

"Yea she came and asked about it, so I decided to check with you. You're the one who said we let the children handle it themselves. I personally don't see the problem with how the matter was handled." Kyle responded with a grin towards Glynda who was fuming.

"Just because we encourage students to stand up for themselves doesn't mean that they can get away with seriously injuring another student!" Glynda yelled.

"That's enough Glynda." Ozpin said in a calming tone. "Miss Rose why did you go as far as you did in your… retaliation?" He asked.

"Well I didn't originally plan on taking off his hand. I did that because Professor Goodwitch said something about mutilating other students, which I hadn't done yet, so to prove my point I clarified for her what mutilation could be. Before that I had only stabbed his hand, and that would've healed within a few days and been good as new." Ruby replied happily like she wasn't talking about seriously injuring a person.

While she was talking Goodwitch was giving her a death glare that could've killed.

"I see." Ozpin said taking a sip from his mug. "Now the question is what to do about this incident."

"You could let me go with that slap on the wrist Professor Goodwitch mentioned the night we met." Ruby said hopefully.

"No, I don't think that will do for this situation." Glynda said through clenched teeth.

"I mean you could slap elsewhere, but at some point it isn't punishment anymore." The reaper offered with a sly smile. Glynda's vein was bulging and was about to explode.

"As much fun as it is to mess with our dear Glynda I don't think now is the time." Ozpin said bringing attention in the room back to him. Glynda sent a glare his way as well for the comment.

"Well headmaster what is my punishment." Ruby asked looking him in the eyes.

"While you didn't technically break any rules you still possibly crippled Mister Winchester for life. As such you will need to be kept under watch by one our faculty for a while to make sure you don't get into any more trouble." Ozpin said.

"What? You're just going to let her off with increased supervision?" Glynda almost screamed.

"While we do need all the hunters we can get it is fairly obvious to everyone here that in the grand scheme of things Team CRDL is not the most valuable team in this war against the Grimm, add on their lack of discipline, maturity, and the racist tendencies they have, and ultimately they aren't quite fit for the title huntsmen. Had she not cut off Mr. Winchester's hand then I might be thanking her for bringing them down to Remnant so to speak. In lieu of all this I will keep the current punishment, and now I just need to pick a teacher who can keep watch of her." Ozpin calmly responded.

The reaper was thinking, Glynda was fuming, and Ruby was waiting to see who her supervisor would be. After a moment Ozpin looked towards the reaper. "Well Kyle would you please keep a close watch over Miss Rose?" He asked.

Before he could answer Glynda spoke up. "Why would you pick him? He is one reason why she responded the way she did. If he keeps watch of her then nothing will change, and this might happen again!" Glynda said rather loudly.

"Does this mean you are volunteering for this responsibility?" Ozpin asked hiding a smile behind his mug.

"If only to make sure this doesn't happen again then yes." Glynda said crossing her arms and looking down towards Ruby who didn't seem to be listening anymore.

'That was easier than I thought it would be.' Ozpin thought to himself. 'Had I just assigned her to it she probably would've objected to babysitting.'

"Ozpin I'm curious what kind of war against the Grimm is this?" Kyle asked ignoring everything that had just happened in the past thirty seconds.

"It is just as I said a war against the Grimm." He replied.

"Interesting, so if this is a war so to speak then the enemy must have a commander." Kyle said looking to see if Ozpin would react.

Visibly he didn't react, but he paused before answering. "What would make you think that?" He asked.

"Just some prior life experience I guess. I remember one name in particular that I heard a few times… hmm what was it? Oh right I believe the name was Salem." Kyle said with a smile.

"Where did you hear that name?" Ozpin asked narrowing his eyes. It would be a big problem to have any information leaks especially regarding this situation.

"Oh you know just in passing. I've learned a lot during my short life."

"Just how much do you know then about this Salem person?" Ozpin asked.

"I know bits and pieces for one she makes poor Glynda here look like a cute little puppy." Kyle said with a smirk.

"That's a scary thought." Ruby said wincing at the thought of someone that much scarier than Glynda.

"Indeed, but do you know anything else?" Ozpin asked curiously.

"I know enough to know that you seem to be losing this little chess match of yours." Kyle said.

"What would lead you to believe that?" Ozpin asked with a frown.

"Well for one you welcomed two murderers into your school with open arms." He said gesturing to himself and his protégé. "And two I heard from a little bird that you're down a maiden." He finished.

Ozpin looked from the reaper to Ruby. "How much do the both of you know?" He asked warily.

"I know enough, and she is still learning." He replied. "In fact, I was going to teach her a little about the seasons, but I thought that there might be someone better suited to tell that one. For instance, someone who might've been there." He suggested with a small smile.

Ruby looked excited while Ozpin just sighed. "You know a lot more than I would've liked." He admitted.

"Alright if you both will promise to keep what you know a secret then I will tell you a story or two." He said.

"Ozpin you aren't seriously thinking about telling them are you?!" Goodwitch asked.

"Glynda it appears that at least some of what I'm about to tell them they already know, and if we give them the full story then hopefully they'll stand with us rather than against us." Ozpin said calmly.

"Only time will tell on that one, but for now I believe it's story time." Kyle said looking to an excited Ruby.

"Alright then let's begin. Once upon a time…"

 _With WBY_

Weiss, Yang, and Blake were all sitting in their dorm room thinking about what had just happened and trying to believe what they just witnessed.

'This can't be happening… why… Why… WHY!? Why did you do that Rubes… and why did you seem to enjoy it? Where did my baby sister go…?' Yang's mind was going a mile a minute trying to figure everything out and it was just making it worse.

'Cold she looked so… cold… and that smile on her face… do we really even know her at all? Who or what is Ruby Rose?' Weiss asked herself. She was struggling to see which Ruby was the real one. The happy cheerful one from when they first met or the one that appeared today.

'Again… it's happening again… even after leaving the fang I've met another person like him… even if they deserved it that doesn't mean what happened to them was right… I guess I now know why I always felt nervous around her… a primal instinctive fear…' Blake thought. Blake was terrified. Ruby her leader her friend seems to be another Adam…

All in all, they didn't know what to think about what they saw, and they were just waiting to see what would happen to their leader.

 _With PNJR_

Team PNJR was somewhat shocked to say the least. With their sister team's leader basically assaulting another team in the middle of the day, albeit for good reasons, they were at a loss for words. Pyrrha looked around at her silent teammates. While it was common for Ren to be quiet Nora was almost never quiet or still, but right now she was both.

"Well that happened." Jaune said to his teammates.

"Yes… it's hard to believe but you're right. We just saw our friend dismember another student while beating up three others." Pyrrha said with a sigh.

Nora who had been quiet ever since the incident spoke up. "I don't get it. The Ruby we know would never do something like this. I always talk about breaking their legs, but I never would have gone that far."

"Yes you're right the Ruby we know wouldn't do that, so that begs the question do we really know her at all? Is Ruby the friend we all have been getting to know over the time we have been here, or is she someone else entirely?" Ren asked.

Before now any of the other members would have claimed for the former to be true rather than the latter, but right now they left his question unanswered.

 _With Cinder and her crew_

"So what do you think of that one?" Mercury asked the group when they got back to their room.

"You mean the red-hooded girl?" Cinder asked. "I think she is interesting, and she reminds me a bit of our other 'teammate.'"

Emerald shivered at that. "I don't know if I like her it's bad enough we are working with one psycho. I don't like the idea of another one running around." She said.

"Who knows maybe she'll get kicked out for attacking another student." Mercury suggested.

"I doubt it she didn't look too worried about getting taken to the headmaster, so she is probably close with Ozpin or another faculty member." Cinder said putting a finger to her chin.

"Maybe she is close with the reaper. None of the other students we've seen here would even think to do something like that with a smile on their face." Mercury added.

Neo was just listening to their conversation smiling on the inside at their reactions. 'It's cute how out of the loop they are when it comes to them.' She thought.

Her thoughtful amusement was cut short when she heard her 'teammate' saying something directed at her. Neo quirked an eyebrow in question.

"I asked you what your thoughts on this girl might be." Cinder repeated somewhat annoyed.

"She is alright in my book. Anyone willing to do something like that in a room full of hunters and huntresses in training has caught my attention."

"I see but do you think she might be willing to work with us? She could be very useful, but if we don't play this right then all of our planning would have been a waste." Cinder replied.

"Well one thing we know is that whether she works with us or not she is dangerous. She has that air around her." Mercury said.

"You're right we will have to keep a close eye on her." Cinder said with a dark smile.

 _With Ruby_

Ruby sat in Ozpin's office taking in everything she had just heard. 'Alright Ruby think. Magic eye powers. Sure. Magic mask and scythe along with successor marks. Why not. Immortal fucking wizard with enough power to super power four lines of maidens with magic. It's a bit of a stretch, but hey at least it kind of makes sense. Maybe.'

While she was taking it all in Ozpin was drinking his coffee with a bit of added vodka. 'I never pictured myself giving this information away under these circumstances.' He thought with a sigh.

Glynda and the reaper were just silent and waiting to see what the young Rose's reaction would be.

"Alright sure why not." Ruby said surprising two of the people in the room. Glynda and Ozpin never thought she would believe it that easily. "You have any more interesting stories or cool abilities?"

"Maybe he does, but that's enough for one day." Kyle said with a laugh before turning to leave with Ruby following. "You coming Glynda? You did volunteer to watch her remember." He said with a smirk. 'Ozpin played her perfectly dear Oum.'

"Yes of course." She said following them.

With that the trio left leaving Ozpin to his own thoughts. When the door had closed he turned in his chair and looked out the windows surprised to see that the sun had gone down, and the shattered moon had risen. 'That took much longer than I thought.' He thought to himself before taking another sip from his mug.

"So how long are you gonna follow me because I'll be honest I like you professor, but I don't want you watching me sleep or anything." Ruby said with a grin.

"I won't take it that far Ms. Rose I will just supervise you during the day whenever you're at Beacon." Glynda responded.

"Then do you really need to follow me to my dorm it's already nighttime?" the Rose asked.

"I am accompanying you to your room to inform the rest of your team on what your punishment is."

"Well I'll leave you two to it I have a bed with my name on it." The reaper said with a wave as he left the two.

After a few moments Glynda looked to Ruby. "Miss Rose what is your relationship to that man?" She asked curious. She knew about her being his prodigy, but she didn't understand how it happened.

"He is my mentor of course, and would you stop saying Miss Rose just call me Ruby." The red reaper replied.

"I will not look unprofessional by calling a student by their first name so casually even if you ask me to." Glynda responded.

"But we are alone right now no one would see you being unprofessional." She tried again.

"No I will not call you by your first name even if we are alone. Now I was wondering how you met the reaper." Goodwitch asked.

Ruby saw her chance. "A-a-ah no questions unless you agree to call me Ruby at least when we are alone like this."

Glynda grimaced. 'I really want to know more about the relation between those two…' "Alright… fine." She sighed. "Ruby how did you meet Kyle?" She asked.

"To be honest I just happened to be at the right place at the right time." She admitted. "A few years back I had run away from home because of… family issues. Sometime during my travels as I liked to call it I had come to Vale. I didn't really know it at the time because I had never really gone to Vale much growing up, but I stumbled my way into the bad side of town looking for a cheap place to stay. Back then I still wasn't much of a fighter, but I did have my semblance to get out of most situations, so I was alright just got to experience some of the darker sides of humanity a little earlier than I probably should have." She said with a quiet laugh.

"At the time I thought that I walked into the wrong area because I heard screams and the sound of fighting. Back then I let my curiosity get the best of me when in any other situation I should've ran the other way. When I got to where the noise had come from it had already stopped, and when I looked around the corner I saw a horrendous scene and I just couldn't move I was frozen in place. What I saw when I looked over there was one figure in black standing over four others. The figure in black was holding a scythe in one hand and was facing away from me. After looking at him and staring at his weapon for a moment I finally looked down to the bodies on the ground. Each corpse was missing their respective heads and I could see a few of them a few feet away from the bodies with their weapons strewn about. I looked back up and saw the glow of his eyes through the slits in his mask and realized he was looking straight at me. I was still frozen in place and fearing for my life all the while I was thinking I needed to get away, but my legs just wouldn't obey. He looked at me for a moment and seemed to be looking into my eyes I guess I mean it was hard to tell, and after a moment or two he turned back around and said something to me 'Run away girl. Run and cling to that precious life of yours.' He had said when he started walking away. I'm not sure why, but that was when I decided I had done enough running. I ran away from my family. I ran away from any problems I faced. My dust-damned semblance is running, so instead of running away like I had been I decided I was tired of running away and decided to follow him." She said with a pause.

"Knowing him now it's pretty obvious that he knew I was following him, and back then I think I realized it too, but I didn't really care. From what I had seen so far, I had a feeling that he could fight, and we both know that to be very true. I guess that's the reason I followed him. I was tired of running and wanted to learn to fight great reasoning to follow a murderer I know." Ruby laughed again. "Anyways back to the story after a few minutes of walking he turned back around and told me to leave. When I said no again he asked why and I told him that I wanted him to train me. That was obviously not what he was expecting because he took off his mask and looked at me like I had grown a second head. He asked 'Why on Remnant would you want me to train you? Better question why would I want to train you?' And being the kid I am I gave very kiddish reasons. 'I want to learn how to fight and am tired of running away. The second answer is because.'

'Because why?' He had asked me. I responded, 'Just because.' And he quickly said no and was about to walk away again, but I used my semblance to run up and grab the back of his cloak determined to get what I wanted. I kept up this little game that we were playing, and I guess he was bored because he didn't just disappear on me, he has a habit of doing that, but he kept standing there then walking a bit before stopping again and repeating the process. I don't know why after that whole thing he eventually said yes, but that night was the first night of my new life. The rest as they say is history. It started soon after with his hellish training, and long story short here I am." Ruby said. She remembered that night well, and although slightly terrifying it was fun. The most she had had in years.

Glynda didn't really know what to make of the girl's story. It made sense, but that one answer brought so many more questions. Questions she would apparently not be getting tonight seeing as how they had been standing outside Ruby's dorm room for a while.

"Well this has been fun, but now we need to talk to your team." She said.

"Alright!" Ruby chirped happily. With the fact that this day started terribly and ended like this with her not getting kicked out and being able to hear a few more stories she honestly couldn't care less about what would happen next.

She opened the door and saw her team still awake and looking at her when she opened the door.

"Hey guys." She said happily walking in followed by Professor Goodwitch.

"Students I am here to let you all know that because of the incident earlier today Ms. Rose will be under my supervision while on campus at Beacon until further notice." She said before turning around and walking outside and closing the door behind her.

"So how was the rest of your day guys?" Ruby asked with a smile.

"Umm Rubes… what happened earlier." Yang asked the first of them to speak up.

"When? At lunch?" Ruby asked tilting her head to the side.

"Yes at lunch you dolt." Weiss said with a scowl.

"What about it then?" Ruby asked sitting in one of the desk chairs.

All eyes were on her confusion and shock were the most prominent looks they wore.

"What do you mean what about it?! You attacked and severely injured fellow students!" Blake shouted breaking her quiet. The other two just nodded in agreement.

"It seemed like they were trying to bully me, so after asking a faculty member about it I was told that we are to resolve issues between students ourselves. That's why I did it, and the only reason they really had to get mad was that they thought I went too far." She replied.

"Do you not think you went too far? Cardin lost his hand they couldn't reattach it, and now he can't fight anymore. Don't you feel bad about that?" Yang asked.

'Hmm keep up the act or let them see a more real part of me. Hmm…Fuck it!' Ruby thought before a mad grin appeared on her face. "No not really if I'm being honest." She laughed. "I don't have a reason to really feel bad. He was a racist bully, so I decided to take him down a peg or in this case a limb. Besides I only cut his hand off because Goodwitch said something about mutilation when I really hadn't mutilated anything. With his aura a blade through the hand would have taken maybe a day or two to heal and would have been as good as new. Therefore, it wasn't mutilation." She finished with a smile.

Her teammates were stunned by what she said and the fact that she, their cute innocent looking leader, was the one to say it. Especially with that smile.

"How… How can you be okay with that? How can you act like harming your fellow students is no big deal!" Blake said getting louder throughout the sentence.

"Maybe because it isn't a big deal." Ruby said with a giggle. "In case you forgot on our first day here Kyle killed a would-be student, and guess what for some reason that escapes the both of us he wasn't stopped or fired afterwards. Seeing as we are both still here neither events were 'big deals' in Ozpin's eyes."

"That doesn't make it okay Ruby!" Yang shouted. "Just because you didn't break any rules doesn't mean that what you did was the right thing."

"The right thing huh." Ruby said more to herself than anyone else. "What is the right thing in your eyes?" She asked looking to her dear sister.

"The right thing would have been to let us help you as a team and not just attack them like a mad beowolf." She replied.

"Is that what you believe the right thing to be in that situation? Well to me I did the right thing. Right and wrong is all a matter of perspective, so in my eyes what I did was probably the best thing to do. The problem stopped, and as an added bonus if you'd like to call it that is that they are all still alive." Ruby said with a nod of her head.

"Who… who are you?" Yang asked quietly looking to the ground. "What have you done with my sister…?"

Ruby frowned. "What do you mean? I am your little sister." She said.

"No you're not! My little sister would never have done something like that to another person!" Yang shouted with tears falling down her cheeks.

Ruby's face went from a frown to a neutral expression where she just looked at her 'sister'.

"You know Yang… I spent so much time worrying about how you, dad, and Qrow would treat me if I came back. You've just helped me realize something. I don't really care anymore. If you don't like who I am now then so be it. Regardless of your feelings, and this goes for all of you. Regardless of your feelings I am still your team leader. Deal with that how you will, but for now I'll leave you to your thoughts." She said leaving out of the room.

When she left no one moved. Yang still had tears running down her cheeks and the others were lost in their own thoughts.

 _With Ruby_

Ruby had just finished sending a text before heading up the stairs to the roof. When she got there a girl with tri-colored hair was waiting for her.

"Hey Neo." She greeted with a sigh.

"What's the matter?" She signed.

It's been a long day is all." She said walking and sitting at the edge of the roof with her feet hanging off the side. Neo sat next to her and Ruby leaned against her.

"Tell me about it." Neo signed.

"Well I believe you saw what happened at lunch." She paused. When Neo nodded she went on. "What'd you think of that?"

Neo just smirked and kissed her. "I loved it, and it caught the attention of my 'teammates'." Not sure how you do air quotes in sign language, but it just happened.

Ruby smiled. "I figured as much. The punishment I got turned into me hearing another story. I'll tell you about it later, but after that my new supervisor Professor Goodwitch and I went and talked to my team. They didn't take it as well which doesn't surprise me in the least. In fact, I think the majority of my 'friends' here are gonna be giving me a wide berth." She finished with another sigh.

"Well you know I'm here for you along with Kyle." She signed with a smile.

"I know." Ruby returned the smile. "It's scary to think about where I'd be if I hadn't met you all you know?"

"I've never liked 'what ifs' I prefer to just roll with what I have and steal what I don't if possible." The young psycho giggled.

"Yea that sounds like you." Ruby giggled with her.

"Hey Neo?" Ruby called to the girl.

Neo gave her a signature questioning eyebrow.

"Can I spend the night in your team's room tonight? I would ask Kyle, but this might be a smarter move." Ruby said not adding in that she just wanted to spend the night with her again.

Neo thought for a moment before shrugging. "You've interested Cinder already. If she thinks I'm seducing you or something then she might be more willing to add you in to their little plan then we both might learn more." She signed.

"Yea that makes sense, and it's not hard to act like that towards each other we already go on dates and kiss and stuff…" Ruby said trailing off with a blush.

"You are too cute when you blush you know that?" Neo signed.

Before Ruby could answer a pair of lips were pushed to hers. They stayed like that for a few more minutes until they both broke apart now wearing matching blushes.

"Anyways let's get back my 'glorious' leader is probably flipping shit with me being gone for so long, and her not knowing what I'm doing. She's a major control freak." Neo laughed her silent laugh.

"She's gonna hate us together then we are kind of chaotic." Ruby said standing up.

"We're chaotic alone don't worry it's just more fun together." Neo said standing up and taking Ruby's hand. In a flash of white light, the pair was inside what Ruby could only assume was Neo's dorm room. In the room were three individuals looking at them with varying looks. Cinder was sitting on her bed looking at them shocked and slightly annoyed. Mercury and Emerald were sitting on the floor in front of her with wide eyes. They were just shocked and confused. On Emerald's end there was a hint of fear in her eyes.

"Neo… why did you bring… Ruby was it? To our room." Cinder asked now very much annoyed they had been talking about their plan and now they had an uninvited guest.

Neo just shrugged and sat down on her bed leaving room for Ruby who sat next to her with a smile.

"It's good to see you all again." Ruby said with a wave.

"Likewise." Mercury said. "It's always nice to see another cute girl around here." He gave a winning smile to Ruby who gave an even brighter smile back.

"If you try and make a move on me I will castrate you." She said happily.

Emerald snorted breaking out of her silence while Neo was laughing at his paling face.

Cinder actually laughed. "You know I think I like you." She said after she stopped laughing.

"Oh really? Even after seeing what I did today?" Ruby asked feigning ignorance to who they were.

"What you mean what happened to that brutish young man and his team? That was justified in my opinion and considering you're still here I imagine the staff either didn't care or just cared about a small part of what happened like that last slash you made." She said with a hint of a smile.

"You're right." Ruby said. "The biggest thing was taking off his hand, but it doesn't matter he wasn't much of a hunter anyways." She shrugged.

"You're quite the interesting girl aren't you." Cinder said.

"Why thank you." Ruby said with a smile.

Neo laid back onto the bed pulling Ruby with her who just giggled and pulled the blanket over them. "While it was nice talking to you all I think she wants to sleep." Ruby said cuddling up to her ice cream girl.

"We can talk another time." Cinder said with a smile. 'This might work out.' She thought.

'That was easy enough.' Neo and Ruby both thought as they started to fall asleep. Ruby was the big spoon again.

 _With Kyle_

"Well the meeting with her team went about as well as we expected." He said to no one. He had been sitting on the top of the roof that Ruby happened to meet up with Neo on for a few hours just looking up at the sky. That is until those two showed up then he just listened to bits and pieces of what had happened. "They've come up with quite the little plan Roman. I hope they don't get in over their heads." He finished before vanishing from where he was sitting.

 **A/N: Well that was indeed a thing. Hope you all enjoy.**

 **Follow, Favorite, Review, and whatever you all do.**

 **~Laz out.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY, but it'd be fun to because Roman would still be alive.**

Chapter 14

 _With WBY_

A few minutes after Ruby had left Yang finally broke the silence.

"No." She said.

"No what?" Weiss asked looking at her.

"I'm not willing to accept this. Maybe she's different now, but I know the old her is still in there somewhere. That's why I'm going to do whatever it takes to bring her back." Yang said with conviction.

Her teammates looked at her for a moment before breaking the silence.

"What makes you so sure that the old her is still in there?" The resident faunas asked her partner.

"I just know it, and I will do this alone if I have to." Yang replied.

"You won't be alone. If you say she's in there then I will believe you and do what I can to help my partner." Weiss said in a very un-Weiss like way.

Blake and Yang looked at her before Yang grinned. "Good to have you aboard ice queen, so what do you say Blakey? Will you help us get our leader and my sister back?" She asked with a grin.

"Right now, she reminds me of someone I used to know back when I was in the White Fang. He couldn't be brought back it was just too late for him, but if you say the old Ruby is still in there then I want to save her from becoming like him." Blake said.

"Alright this has become a team mission let's bring back our leader." Yang said putting her hand out expectantly.

Weiss rolled her eyes and put her hand on top of Yang's. Blake had a small smile and added hers on top of Weiss'.

"We just have to remember to take it slowly or else we will push her away." Blake said. The others nodded in agreement.

With that decided the three teammates went to sleep.

 _The Next Morning with Ruby and Neo_

Ruby woke up early like usual with a yawn. 'Hmm oh right I'm in Neo's room… and creepy lady is staring at me already…' She internally sighed. As much as she wanted to have some insight to both sides of this little war she already didn't like Cinder. It wasn't anything personal, but something about her just rubbed Ruby the wrong way.

She pretended to not notice the staring and instead went about thinking of how to wake the girl in her arms. That is until her eyes opened. Silver looked into pink and brown. "Good morning Neo."

"Morning." She signed lazily with a yawn.

"I see the two of you are up." Cinder said lowly as not to wake the other two members of their team.

"Yes that was a pretty good rest don't you agree Neo?" Ruby asked.

"I was very comfortable." Neo signed.

"While I hate to interrupt you two I was hoping to talk to you Ruby." Cinder said jumping back in.

"Oh me? What do you wanna talk about?" She asked with a curious look on her face.

"I was hoping to get to know a little more about you is all." She said.

"You can ask what you want, but I won't promise an answer." Ruby said back.

"Alright then how do you know Neo?" She asked. She was supposed to be in disguise, but she came back looking like normal with Ruby.

"Oh I've known Neo for a while, and when I saw her the other day I thought I'd say hi." Ruby said happily.

"Alright but when did you meet her? And how?" She asked wanting more information.

"I told you I met her a while back, and we first met at a café it was a nice little place." Ruby said remembering with a smile. She and Neo were both enjoying the frustrated look on Cinder's face. Being vague is always fun.

"Alright moving on… who exactly are you?" She asked narrowing her eyes slightly.

"I'm Ruby Rose a huntress-in-training." Ruby answered. "The better question is who are you?" She finished with a smirk.

"Cinder Fall a huntress-in-training visiting from Haven." She gave her practiced cover.

"Well Ms. Fall what would you and your friends over there be doing with my dear friend Neo? She's never been on the good side of the law no offense Neo." Ruby said looking to the girl.

"I'm more offended that you thought that would offend me than I am about the actual comment." Neo responded with a small smirk.

After laughing at her response Ruby looked towards Cinder. "Well?" She asked.

"Fine I am just someone who wants to do what I can to make a change." She responded.

'Not bad that can be taken a lot of ways I suppose.' Ruby thought. "So what change are you trying to make if I may ask."

"That is none of your concern. I already know what it is I want to change and how I can make that change." Cinder said.

"Oh so you have a plan then. Now I'm curious. Tell me tell me tell me." She said jumping up and down.

"Quiet down!" She hissed. It was far too early to be this loud.

"Well you're no fun." Ruby said deflating. "Anyways whatever morally gray thing you guys are up to doesn't really matter to me."

Cinder was shocked to hear that especially from a huntress-in-training albeit a very strange one. "Why is that?" She asked.

"Well remember how I said I was friends with Neo? If I don't care about the many many things that she has done, then why would I care about whatever you and your little followers are up to?" Ruby said putting an arm around Neo.

"I will say it again you are a very interesting girl." Cinder said looking at the two smiling girls.

 _With WBY_

After the three woke up, earlier than usual, they looked to their leader's bunk to see if she had returned in the middle of the night. When they didn't find her Yang decided they should go look for her to apologize.

"Alright let's see if we can't find my sister." Yang said to the group.

"Where do you think she would go?" Blake asked already thinking of someone.

"She would probably have gone to the reaper. If she changed when she left then it was probably because of him, so it would make sense for her to go to him first." Weiss said.

That's when it clicked in Yang's head. "It's him… he's the one who corrupted Ruby…" Her eyes flickered red and she stood up and threw the door open. "I'm going to have a little talk with that bastard." She said with venom.

As she left her remaining two teammates shared a look before following her. 'This might end badly.' They both thought.

Within a few minutes Yang followed by Weiss and Blake made it to Kyle's room. When they first arrived Yang walked up and banged on the door. "Hey open up!" She yelled. Her teammates were waiting behind her.

 _With Kyle_

 _Bang_

 _Bang_

 _Bang_

"Hey open up!"

The reaper opened his eyes and yawned. 'Why is she banging on my door?' He wondered as he got up and got dressed with the exception of his cloak which was in the wash. He really needed a second one. Walking over to the door he paused before turning the handle and opening it.

As soon as it was open a hand grabbed his shirt and pulled him towards a familiar girl with burning yellow hair. Red eyes met red eyes. One looked a little more confused than the other who just looked pissed.

"Ms. Xiao Long what a _pleasant_ surprise." He said sarcastically. "What is it?"

"It was YOU!" She yelled out rather unhelpfully.

He had done a lot of things over his life, so whatever she was yelling about might be true, but at least tell him what you think he did. That was his train of thought. "…What was me?" He asked.

"You're the one who corrupted my baby sister!" She yelled out.

"Alright." He said. "Is there something else you needed?"

Yang was about to explode. "Have you seen Ruby we are worried about her she didn't come back to the room last night after our little falling out." Blake said causing the reaper to quirk an eyebrow.

"No I haven't seen her since last night." He said.

"Well do you know where she might be?" Weiss asked.

"I have a pretty good idea yea." He said. "But if she hasn't come back yet then she doesn't want to. She will probably be back soon to see what your answer is."

"Wait so you know what happened in our dorm last night?" Weiss asked.

"I have a general idea no real details though." He said.

"But you still know how we… responded to it?" Blake half asked.

"I figured that is how you all would react, but her reaction to your own is what surprised me, and it was a rather pleasant surprise." He said with a wistful smile.

"What do you mean Pleasant surprise?!" Yang bit out.

"For years she has been worrying about how she could approach her family again, but now that you've seen a bit of her true colors and responded so poorly I think something in her mind snapped or it just clicked." The reaper said with a faraway look in his eyes.

"What do you mean it clicked? What clicked?!" Yang said getting angrier.

"The fact that her old family won't accept the new her. You probably want to try and bring the old her back rather than accepting who she has become, and that's fine if that's the goal you've given yourself. Regardless of what you all plan to do just remember that ultimately it is her choice to make not yours and not mine." He said removing Yang's hand from his shirt. "Now have a nice day." He said shutting the door on them.

They stood there in silence for a moment before looking at each other. Yang was doing her best to calm down while Blake had a guilty look on her face. Weiss' face was neutral, but she was feeling just as guilty as Blake. When they had planned to bring the old Ruby back none of them thought of it as not accepting the real Ruby, but that is kind of what they were doing.

 _With Kyle again_

After shutting the door Kyle sat down on his bed and sighed. "Dammit Rose… you had to play the hero didn't you." He said with a sigh.

 _Flashback_

" _Stop!" came a voice from behind him._

" _How persistent." He mumbled looking to the woman who had just attacked him and slowly walking backwards. 'This will be an easy job he said. There won't be any guards I've bought them all off. Yeah thanks a lot Roman.'_

 _This had started out as a simple assassination. The target was one of the city councilmen of Vale. The reaping duo had observed him for a while before he decided to take a little vacation to his large estate next to the Forever Fall Forest. The duo decided that it was the perfect time for an attack, so they made their plans and went after the contract. Again, he was a city councilman, so it made sense he would have guards. What didn't make sense is how someone found out he was their target beforehand and added an extra guard. The kill had been easy like Roman said none of the guards were around, and the guy didn't have an aura so all it took was one swift cut._

 _What neither Kyle nor Roman had expected was for there to be a fully trained huntress who was there waiting for him. After the kill Kyle felt someone behind him. Instincts from past lives took over and he jumped away, but not fast enough. He looked towards the attacker while clutching his side. His aura protected him, but it was still painful._

" _Reaper you are wanted across three kingdoms for numerous counts of murder and assault. As a huntress it is my duty to stop and bring you into custody." Said a woman wearing a white cloak with red on the inside. The woman was wearing a white combat skirt that matched her cloak. She was holding a silver sword with a white handle ready for a fight._

" _And who might you be?" He asked. 'I'm running out of time the guards will be back soon.'_

" _My name is Summer. Summer Rose a huntress." She replied._

" _I figured the huntress part out. While I am usually bound to retaliate after being attacked I will give you this warning as a placeholder. If it doesn't involve you stay out of my business. I have no desire to kill you, but I will if you become an obstacle." He said before diving out the window he had come in._

 _When she ran over to the window he had disappeared into the forest._

" _What did he mean by he is 'bound'?" She said quietly._

 _Flashback end_

"I guess I said too much that day huh…" He said laying back and sighing again for the umpteenth time.

 _With Ruby and Neo_

Ruby and Neo had left Cinder and her crew to their own devices and went to the cafeteria after Neo had activated her disguise.

On their way they spotted three very familiar heads of hair. WBY had found their leader.

"Hey guys how're you all doing?" Ruby asked with a smile.

"Better than we were last night. Sorry about that by the way." Yang said laughing awkwardly while scratching the back of her head.

"Oh? And what exactly are you sorry for again?" She asked the smile leaving her face.

"When you acted the way you did last night we all immediately thought badly of you and at least one of us compared you to someone from our past." Blake said looking down in shame. "We are sorry for judging you the way we did." She finished.

"I'm curious about that, but that's a conversation for later. Do you all feel the same about that?" She asked.

"Yes we are all sorry for the way we reacted, and we hope that you'll be able to forgive us." Weiss answered truthfully.

"Well alright then I forgive you as long as you remember what I said last night." Ruby said with a serious look on her face.

"We will and thanks for giving us another chance." Yang said.

"No problem but this will be the last chance you all get, so make it count." She said happily.

Before anyone else could say something Ruby turned to Neo. "I'm still hungry let's hurry up and get food before class." She said. Neo nodded in agreement.

With that the two walked past the three members of RWBY. Her teammates were relieved to have been forgiven, and they all shared a look knowing that their side mission was a go. After that they followed after the surprisingly quick duo who seemed to completely disappear.

"Wait where'd they go?" Yang asked. "They were just here."

"They said they were heading to the cafeteria… well Ruby did." Blake said.

"Who was she with?" Weiss asked the group.

"Why don't we go ask and introduce ourselves." Yang said with a devious smile.

 _With Ruby and Neo_

"How long do you think they'll keep looking for us?" Ruby asked her ice cream girl.

The two of them were camouflaged using Neo's semblance sitting on one of the high up window sills.

"I'm not sure." Neo signed slowly as to not break her concentration. They had been watching WBY wading through the many students in the cafeteria for a few minutes looking for them. Neo had the idea of hiding from the teammates for fun, and Ruby had the idea for Neo to use her semblance to hide them giving her a chance to practice longer-term camouflage with her semblance. It also gave an excuse for Neo to be close to her, and it was working out pretty well in her opinion seeing as Neo was sitting on her lap.

Neo saw something and pointed to show Ruby. "Look who else just arrived." She signed.

Neo's own team had also just arrived.

"Shall we have some fun?" Ruby asked to which Neo nodded with a shark-like smile.

In a small flash of white Neo and Ruby were right behind Cinder. Emerald and Mercury being a bit farther back jumped back at the sudden appearance.

"Woah!" Mercury said.

Cinder rolled her eyes at whatever has surprised him. "Why did you just say woah?" She asked turning to see falling rose petals.

"Rose petals?" She said picking one from the air only for it to dissolve into nothingness.

'Wait rose petals?' She thought before turning back around and jumping back at the sight of two girls who were very close to her.

"Hey~ Cinder~" Ruby said with a wave drawing out each word.

"Ruby… Neo what do you two think you're doing?" She said through clenched teeth.

"We just wanted to say hi is that so wrong." Ruby said with a mock pout.

Cinder sighed. "Neo why on Remnant were you using your semblance for something so stupid where anyone can see you." She hissed.

Neo shrugged and signed something to Ruby.

"She says suck it." Ruby said before getting elbowed by the shorter girl. "Fine Fine…" She mumbled. "She says it doesn't really matter we have connections." Ruby said putting her arm around Neo.

"We?" Cinder asked.

"No not you we. We we." Ruby said gesturing to herself and Neo.

"What? Do you mean you're well connected?" She asked.

"Oh yes please do tell us all what you meant." Another voice said from behind the group.

Everyone in the group turned to the voice. Three people jumped back in fear Neo just smirked and Ruby jumped forward.

"Hey Kyle!" Ruby said hugging him.

"Hi there who are your friends here?" He asked.

"This is Cinder, Emerald, Mercury, and Neo." She said pointing to each.

"I see nice to meet you all." He said with a mock smile. "You all must be from one of the other academies I'm one of the professors here you can call me the reaper." He finished with a shark like grin.

 **A/N:**

 **Hey guys this took far too long to write, so I'm sorry about that, but writing between doing things at work has been tedious to say the least. Anyways I hope you all enjoy.**

 **Follow, Favorite, Review, and whatever else you all do.**

 **~Laz out**

 **P.S. I'm also thinking of starting a new story, and while I have an idea or two I'm curious to see what you all might want to see.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: Still don't own RWBY**

Chapter 15

"Reaper? As in the assassin Reaper?" Emerald asked.

"The one and only." The reaper said with a smile.

"Did you say professor?" Cinder asked.

"Well if I wasn't a professor then I probably wouldn't be here unimpeded like I am." Kyle said matter-of-factly.

"Have you guys really not seen him around here?" Ruby asked.

'No, we've been avoiding the faculty as much as possible.' Cinder thought before realizing. "Oh I remember you're always with Ms. Goodwitch in her sparring class. Sorry for not recognizing you we sit near the back." She said.

"It's quite alright I like taking a backseat in those classes anyways unless they pique my interest." He replied with a shrug. "Anyways Ruby you will never believe who came banging on my door this morning." He said his smile fading away.

"Oh, they came to you first?" She asked with a nervous laugh. "My bad on that one."

"Yeah no kidding you really dumped them on me this morning." He said shaking his head.

"I said sorry didn't I?" She pouted.

On the side "She seems very friendly with the reaper don't you think?" Emerald whispered to Cinder.

"Yes she does… this makes her even more interesting." She said.

While the two were speaking to themselves they failed to notice that the two reapers had finished talking and were just listening in on their conversation.

Meanwhile Mercury was looking at Neo suspiciously. "You didn't know about this beforehand did you?"

Neo just shrugged and walked away from the gray-haired boy.

"While listening to them talk is fun and all it looks like your little girlfriend is walking away to grab some food." The reaper whispered.

"She isn't my girlfriend! At least not yet." Ruby said with a small chuckle before following her.

When she caught up to the ice-cream themed girl she saw that she was right behind her three teammates.

"Do you think they're still looking for you?" Neo signed following as Ruby's teammates pushed through the crowd.

"Probably." She signed back. "You wanna see how long it takes for them to notice us?"

"Sure." Neo responded.

With that decided the two followed behind the team for about a minute before the resident cat faunas who was in the back of the group stopped and caught the familiar scent of roses. Seeing that they had been found out they decided to act.

Ruby ran up and cupped the older girl's mouth with her hand before she could say anything, and Neo used her semblance to teleport the three of them to a nearby classroom specifically Professor Port's.

After regaining her bearings Blake pulled Ruby's hand away from her mouth and backed away from the two. "Ruby! What was that for?" She asked.

"Well we didn't want to be found so quickly, but I also wanted to ask you a few questions." Ruby said happily.

"Questions like what?" Blake asked nervously looking at the other girl in the room.

Noticing her stare Ruby waved her hand dismissively. "Don't worry she won't tell a soul."

Neo made a motion to zip her lips closed and lock it.

"I don't know Ruby…" Blake said. "What kinds of questions?"

"I had a few that I wanted an answer to." The red reaper responded.

"Alright if I honestly answer them then you'll have to honestly answer some of my questions." Blake compromised.

After thinking for a moment Ruby shrugged. "Sure thing kitty cat."

Blake cringed at that name Yang said it enough as it was she didn't need Ruby to start now too.

"Please don't call me that, and what is your question?" She asked with a sigh.

"Alright you mentioned earlier when you guys apologized that at least one of you compared me to someone from your past. Were you specifically talking about yourself?" Ruby asked.

Blake already didn't like where this was going, but she also wanted some of her own questions answered, and this one wasn't that bad. "Yes, I was talking about myself." She answered truthfully. "Is the old you still in there? And I mean the one that Yang has talked about." She asked.

"The old me? Hmm I think you might be looking at it the wrong way." Ruby said with a pause. Blake had a confused look on her face but waited for her to answer. "There is no old me or new me. Who I am now is the result of who I used to be plus my experiences over the past few years. Nothing really caused a major change I just had to grow up a bit faster than usual, and now here I am." She finished.

'Her experiences? What did she experience to end up like this… wait…' Blake's thoughts were cut off when Ruby asked another question.

"Who did you compare me to the other night? I want to know who they were, and specifically who they were to you." She said.

Blake stopped before sighing she needed just one more question answered. "… he was my old partner back in the White Fang. He was a bull faunas named Adam. He used to believe in achieving rights for the faunas, but as time passed and the White Fang became more and more violent in their protests he changed. He stopped caring about equality, and instead wanted revenge against the humans for all they had done to the faunas, and what's worse is a lot of people in the Fang agreed with him." She paused looking out one of the windows. "For a while I was one of the ones agreeing with him. That is until I was told to kill someone… but that is a story for another day." She finished.

"So we were right it was Adam." Ruby said with a nod looking towards Neo.

"Wait you were right about what?" What was Adam?" Blake asked a pit forming in her stomach.

"That Adam was your old partner. Real quick question does this look familiar to you?" Ruby asked pulling single horn out of her pocket. She said she would make a necklace out of it as a trophy for Kyle, but she hadn't gotten around to it yet.

"I-is that…?" Blake couldn't finish her question.

"Yep! Kyle cut this off his head threatening to make him look human or something after a fight. I guess the leader of the White Fang wasn't worth two horns but was worth more than one how amusing." She said chuckling to herself. Behind her Neo silently giggled.

Blake was horrified. Kyle and Adam fought, and the reaper cut off his horn. She mentioned the leader of the White Fang… "Why does he want the leader?" She asked already fearing the answer.

"That's probably his next target, but I wouldn't worry about your little organization Blakey-poo if she does die then the faunas can make her into a martyr or something since Kyle's a human." Ruby said with a smile. Before Blake could figure out what was happening Ruby spoke up again. "Alright you have one last question that you can ask me, so what is it."

"W-what? Oh right I had one more question, but I think I know the answer to it already… You've killed before, haven't you?" She asked.

"Yes I have, and like it or not Blake you know you've killed before too. It might not have been directly killing them, but you were rather high up in the White Fang. Your subordinates have blood on their hands, and by relation so do you." She finished and looked to Neo. "Now then Neo I believe we've wasted too much time class starts in a few minutes."

Neo nodded and the two found their seats since they were already in the classroom they needed to be in. While they sat down Blake was just at a loss for words. 'Yang… I don't think the girl you knew exists anymore.' She thought before sitting down. A few minutes later other people in the class started showing up, and when the rest of RWBY entered they saw Blake sitting away from the leader they had been looking for.

Yang wanted to talk to Ruby, but she also knew she needed to help her partner. Lucky for her Weiss decided to help her make a choice. "You check on your sister I'll see what's wrong with Blake."

"Alright thanks ice queen." Yang said with a grin before walking over to Ruby and Neo.

Rolling her eyes to the name she walked over to the cat faunas. When she got closer she realized that Blake had a faraway look in her eyes and seemed to be out of it.

"Hey Blake, what's the matter?" She asked placing her hand on the girl's shoulder.

Said girl jumped at the touch before realizing someone was talking to her. "I-I'm sorry what?" She said after a moment.

"I said what's the matter you look out of it." Weiss repeated.

"I'm not sure Yang's plan will work…" Blake said.

"Why not?" Weiss asked simply.

"In life there are lines you don't cross, and like me she has crossed at least one of those lines." Blake said rather vaguely.

"What on Remnant are you talking about?" The heiress asked.

"Ruby has killed before Weiss, and by the way she mentioned it I don't think she really cared. I'd sooner say she enjoyed it rather than regretted it." She answered.

"She's actually…"

 _With Ruby and Neo_

"Here comes your sister." Neo signed.

"Thanks Captain Obvious." Ruby said rolling her eyes playfully.

"Ruby where have you been we were looking for you." Yang said.

"Well here I am now what did you guys need?" Ruby asked curiously.

"I was wondering who your little friend here was." Yang answered.

"Oh this is Neo a friend of mine. I crashed at her dorm last night." Neo for her part smiled coldly and waved.

"And where did you meet this girl?" Yang asked wearily.

"Well I met her in Vale one day we had a nice meal at a little café." Ruby answered somewhat truthfully.

"Could you expl-" She began before hearing a booming voice.

"Good morning children take your seats and let's get started." Professor Port's voice rang out.

As the class went on Blake calmed down a bit and regained her composure meanwhile Yang and Weiss were attempting to figure out who this Neo girl is.

"Ms. Rose!" Boomed the voice of Peter Port. "Would you be willing to participate in a demonstration for the rest of the class?"

"Sure sounds fun." Ruby chirped hopping up from her seat and going to the center of the room. "What would you like me to do?" She asked.

"You my dear girl will be facing the Grimm I have in this cage. Do you need to go get your weapon?" He asked.

"Nope." She said popping the 'p' and pulling out Mercy. "These will get the job done."

"Always prepared for a fight I like it!" Port said enthusiastically as he opened the cage. An alpha beowolf jumped out of the cage snarling and focused on the red-cloaked girl.

"Oh a cute little doggie this will be fun." Ruby grinned. Sure it wasn't anything special, but she hadn't gotten to 'play' in a while. The last time might've been when she and Neo were playing with the twins at that bar.

With a grin she separated the blades of Mercy to where she was holding one in each hand. Then she just waited.

The alpha looked at her carefully trying to find any weakness she might be showing, but after a few seconds of not seeing anything it started to circle her.

Ruby just followed the beowolf with her eyes. 'It's not as effective when it is just one beowolf compared to a pack.' She thought.

Once behind her it pounced, but she had been paying attention, so she quickly sidestepped out of the way of the attack and lunged with her weapon sinking the blades into the wolf's leg. With a quick X-slash she had backed away taking off the alpha's leg.

The beowolf tumbled and rolled stopping a few feet away. It slowly got up whimpering slightly and turned its red eyes full of hatred back towards the girl.

With a defiant roar it charged her again. She ran to meet it but sidestepped again to get behind the beast. With a smirk she jabbed at one of the other legs and started a flurry of quick attacks to the two closest legs making the alpha beowolf howl in pain.

She brought the two blades together into one while slicing off the two legs she had just been attacking in one swipe.

The now one-legged beowolf pitifully tried to crawl away from the hooded menace. Ruby watched it for a few seconds with a growing smile on her face. Then she slowly started walking towards the beowolf.

"I guess…" She started stepping on the beowolf's last paw halting it's advance. "That the big bad wolf didn't get its meal today." She finished stabbing the beowolf through the head.

The class was silent after witnessing the brutal display. Well almost silent since Neo was quietly clapping from her seat.

Realizing that everyone was still looking at her she smiled and bowed before walking out of the class to the tone of the bell.

Neo followed her with a dreamy look in her eyes.

"Well that was… well executed." Port said quietly. "Well now students I know you all love my stories, but I'm afraid it is time for your next class. Stay vigilant!" He said enthusiastically.

The rest of the class slowly got up and out of the trance-like state they were in.

 _With WBY_

"Well this might be a more difficult mission than we thought." Yang said under her breath to where only Weiss and Blake could hear her. Velvet probably could hear it too if she wasn't with the rest of her team on a mission right now.

"Yang… we need to talk about what Ruby told me earlier today." Blake said to the blonde.

After watching that Yang just sighed and nodded her head. "Alright let's see how much harder this will really be."

 _With Ruby and Neo_

Ruby was waiting for Neo to catch up to her slow gait but wasn't quite prepared when the silent assassin tackled her and teleported them away.

"Neo what was that for? And where are we?" She asked looking around only to realize they were in her own room.

"Neo why'd you bring us back here we will be late to Oobleck's class." She said looking to the girl who just smiled and released her illusion.

"Neither of us will be attending that class today." She said crawling on top of Ruby and kissing her while letting her hands roam the other girl's body.

 _With Kyle_

"Ah fucking hell…" He muttered putting his hand to his mark. "They're like fucking rabbits I swear." He mumbled.

Sending his thoughts out to Roman he thought. 'Are you feeling this too?'

 _With Roman_

"What on Remnant are they doing at this time in the day." He muttered while looking out over the underground area of Mount Glenn watching the mutts prep the train. After a few seconds he heard Kyle's thoughts 'Are you feeling this too?'

'Oh you have no idea aren't they supposed to be in classes right now?' He asked.

'Yeah they are… I blame you for this.' Kyle said with a sigh.

'Fuck you too man fuck you too.' He sighed cutting the mental line.

 _With WBY_

After talking briefly about what Blake had found out the trio quickly agreed that they had some work to do. "Alright you guys remember what we learned when we went to gather intel the other day?" Yang asked receiving two affirmative nods. "Well if we are out on a mission down in the southeast we might be able to help start getting through to Ruby while also looking for that hideout Torchwick mentioned without having many other people interfere."

"How will we be able to focus on searching and trying to change your sister?" Blake asked. As much as she wanted to help Ruby she was still worried about the White Fang situation now more than ever since the leader of the White Fang could soon be taken out, which would cause more animosity from the Fang.

"Well we will all be looking for the base Ruby included, so the three of us just have to multitask." Weiss said. With that decided the trio walked into Dr. Oobleck's room.

"Wait where is she?" Yang asked.

"It doesn't look like she's in here yet. Maybe she had something else to do before the class started, but I wouldn't worry too much she's never missed a class before." Weiss said taking her seat.

Yang nodded and sat next to her with Blake on her other side. Just as they were about to start talking about their leader again team PNJR came up to the group albeit nervously.

"H-hey guys." Jaune said with a wave.

"Hey what's up vomit boy?" Yang asked with a smirk.

He sighed at the name while Pyrrha stepped forward. "We were wanting to know how Ruby is doing. She's been acting… different as of late." She said.

The three members of RWBY shared a look debating on if they should tell them or not before looking back to PNJR. "It's complicated, but I guess we could tell you guys what's happening, and maybe you'd be willing to help us." Yang said.

"We'd do anything to help a friend." Pyrrha said with a smile. Nora cheered a 'Yeah!', Jaune gave a thumb up, and Ren merely nodded.

"Alright where do I-" Yang started before Oobleck appeared in the room beckoning everyone to sit.

"Hmm no Miss Rose today how unfortunate. No matter she will make up the class in detention." He said quickly before starting the lesson.

"We will explain it later." Yang whispered as the others sat down.

 _With Glynda_

"They aren't in class where could she have gone?" She asked herself.

Glynda had been keeping up her part of supervising the Rose girl from afar waiting for her to try and do something and staying near enough to stop it. What she didn't think about was her knowing someone who could teleport freely. Now she was just walking the corridors of the school looking for either Ms. Rose or the black-haired girl she was with. Oum dammit she had even left the combat classes to the damned reaper to keep an eye on his little troublemaker, and then she lost her.

"The dorms are the first place I'd check, but she'd probably know that and be somewhere else, so I'll look elsewhere first." She said heading to check the roof.

 _With WBY and PNJR_

After class ended the two teams went to the cafeteria for lunch and to talk about Ruby.

When they all had their food Yang, Weiss, and Blake took turns telling them what is happening and why she is behaving differently.

PNJR listened on the whole time before reaffirming that the would try and help WBY in their mission.

Pyrrha said the thing that they had all been thinking but knew would be one of the biggest problems. "It seems that this all started when the reaper came into her life, so we should probably work on keeping them apart." She said looking to the others for their opinions.

"You're right that would be the best thing to do, but it isn't that easy." Yang said.

"Why not?" Jaune asked.

"Right now, the reaper is more family to her than her real family. Trying to keep her from seeing him or vice versa would be nearly impossible since they both have a knack for disappearing and are both much faster than us." Yang said.

With that they decided to take a break on that train of thought and again went back to the dance.

"Is everyone ready for the dance tomorrow?" Pyrrha asked.

"Is it really tomorrow?" Yang asked. "I guess I've just been distracted recently and forgot what today was."

"Yes it's tomorrow are you guys going with anyone?" Nora asked excitedly.

"I'm not what about you Blakey you gonna go with Sun?" Yang asked with a teasing grin.

"I wasn't planning on it but speaking of Sun I haven't seen him or Neptune since that night we fought Torchwick." She replied.

"Did I hear my name?" Came the voice of Neptune with Sun walking next to him.

"Where have you two been?" Weiss asked.

"Oh you know trying to get over the fear I have of being near your leader." Sun said with a dry chuckle rubbing the back of his head.

"You're that scared of my sister?" Yang asked trying not to laugh.

"About as scared of her as Neptune is of water. She's freaked me out ever since we first met." He said getting a negative response from his blue-haired friend.

"I am not scared of water!" He shouted.

"What'd she do back then? We were all there when we first saw you." Weiss said.

"So none of you noticed that's what I thought. She's the reason I tripped back then I felt an overwhelming amount of bloodlust from behind me, and when I looked back I saw her glaring daggers at me. That was the only time I've ever truly feared for my life." He said holding himself.

 _With Glynda_

'Think Glynda think the only places they might be is in their dorms, and since I didn't recognize the other girl I'll just have to check Team RWBY's dorm.' She thought with a frustrated sigh.

 _Meanwhile with Ruby and Neo_

"Woah…" Ruby said laying on her back facing the ceiling.

Both girls were currently on the floor with their clothes strewn about.

"I was not expecting our first time to happen like this…" She said with a blush.

Neo just signed with a smirk from on top of her. "But you were expecting this?"

"Yep and again just woah…" Ruby said wrapping her tired arms around the girl on top of her. "Remind me to torture things more often when you're around." She finished.

Neo just rolled her eyes and pecked her cheek.

The two laid there for a few more minutes in silence letting themselves rest before Ruby broke the silence.

"So this might be kind of late but I'm going to ask again. Neo will you go to the dance with me, but instead of just as a date as my girlfriend?" Ruby asked still blushing. Whether it was from the question she asked or just the afterglow of sex she didn't know.

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Neo signed. She was about to kiss her Rose again, but they froze when they heard the lock on the door disarm.

"Oh-" Ruby started before the duo disappeared in a flash of light.

The door opened to reveal an angry looking Goodwitch. Looking around the room quickly she saw there was no one there, but she did take notice of the room's condition.

"This place is a mess there are clothes everywhere, and what is that smell?" She mumbled to herself, and before dwelling on it too long she left closing the door.

"Where could they be the reaper is teaching right now…" She left to doublecheck the places she had already looked since she didn't know the identity of the black-haired girl. She didn't know all the visiting students' names sue her.

 _With Ruby and Neo_

"-shit." Ruby said looking around again. "Neo why'd you teleport us to Kyle's room?" She asked the still naked girl on top of her.

"That's something I was wondering too." Kyle said from his bed.

"Oh Oum!" Kyle what are you doing here?" Ruby asked. Neo covered herself when she heard his voice.

"Well it is my room." He said gesturing to the room as to prove his point.

"Yeah but shouldn't you be teaching right now?" She asked.

Kyle smirked.

 _With WBY and PNJR_

They reached the door to the combat classroom and found a note posted on the front.

The note read:

"Hello everyone today's combat class is a little different. Instead of fighting each other you will work on trying to track down a dangerous criminal (me). I'll be in the Emerald forest, and any team that finds me will get extra credit while any who don't try will receive a one letter grade drop for this class.

Good hunting,

The Reaper"

 _With Kyle_

"That's pure evil." Ruby said with a giggle.

"Why thank you." He said with a smile. "Now back to the issue at hand you two are naked in my room. What did someone almost walk in on you two or something?"

"Actually yes." Neo signed.

"Wow damn that's funny." Kyle laughed. "But let's do something about your state of dress… or rather undress."

Neo used her semblance to make it look like her clothes were back on. "That's one." He said looking to his protégé.

"Don't look at me I don't know how to do that." She said putting her hands up.

"You know your lack of shame amazes me Ruby." He said with a sigh.

"I mean it's only you and Neo here anyone else and I'd be a stuttering mess or trying to gut them depending on where I am and who it is." She said with a smile.

"Alright that's fair I guess oh and that reminds me you remember these dandy little marks here? Well guess what Roman and I knew what you two were up to a while ago because lust is one of the many feelings that can be transferred through the mark. It was almost as bad as the first time you had a wet dream." He said shaking his head.

If the blush on her face had worn off, then it was back in full force as her face was beet red. "Kyle! Don't talk about that I didn't try and make that happen." She said wishing she could hide in her cloak right now.

"That was an interesting morning… back on topic though you Ruby need clothes." He said.

"Can't I just borrow your cloak?" She asked.

"No, it's in the wash, and the last time I lent it to you it came back filthy." He said.

"Ugh fine Neo can teleport us back to the room in a bit." She said.

"Why in a bit?" Neo and the reaper both asked.

"Well easy tomorrow is the dance, right?"

They nodded, so she continued. "Well why don't we go shopping with Kyle paying of course." She said with a grin.

"I'm just a poor teacher don't look at me." He lied.

"Alright after we get our clothes it's shopping time for dresses! Wait…" She said all color draining from her face. "I hate shopping."

 **A/N: Hey guys I gotta say sorry first off because I've been getting very side tract in these past few chapters and we've been at the point between the dance and the Paladin fight for like ever, so I'm moving the story along a bit. Next chapter should take care of the dance.**

 **Another thing in case you all didn't realize I love Bloodborne, and am playing it a lot recently that's why there are all those references.**

 **Anyways I hope you all enjoy.**

 **Follow, Favorite, Review, and whatever you all do.**

 **One last thing again since I didn't receive any real indication about the new story idea I'll probably do a crossover with Itachi and Kisame in Remnant, or a Bloodborne crossover where a not so 'good' hunter makes it out of the dream. I haven't decided which yet.**

 **Later peoples**

 **~Laz Out.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY**

Chapter 16

Dance Dance Oww! Stupid Lady Stilts!

"Alright are you two ready?" Kyle asked.

"Yep!" Ruby said, and Neo signed.

The mini reaper had Neo teleport them to her room to grab their stuff and then back to Kyle's room to change.

"And you're buying right?" Ruby asked.

"Nope Roman is." He said pulling out Roman's wallet.

"Works for me." Ruby shrugged with a smile.

The reapers then looked to Neo.

"I know teleporting is great, but I've used a lot of aura today, so I have to rest for a bit before teleporting again." She signed with a silent sigh.

"Alright then let's go the old-fashioned way." Ruby said taking Neo's hand.

'Those two I swear.' He mused following the hyperactive duo.

When Ruby opened the door, she was faced with a visibly angry Goodwitch.

"Oh, hey Glynda!" Ruby said silently praising the fact that Neo had reactivated her disguise.

"Don't hey Glynda me! Where have you been today?! You missed two classes." She said. 'Of course they would be here.' She thought.

"Actually they only missed one. The class assignment that I gave the combat class was to find me in the Emerald Forest, and they're the only ones who decided to check and see if I was lying. Which I was." Kyle said turning her fury towards him.

"What about the other students?" She asked.

"What about them? For initiation they were tossed into the forest and left to fend for themselves, so if any of them die then so be it." He said with a shrug.

While he had a point Glynda was still pissed. "We are going to have a talk about your teaching methods later." She said

"Why not right now? I was just about to take these two shopping for the dance." He said pointing to the two girls.

"Two? Oh right you." She said leveling her glare at Neo who smiled nervously. "Don't teleport in the school unless it is an emergency." She said.

Neo nodded, but winked to Ruby when Goodwitch looked away.

"Now why would I want to join you three in shopping?" She asked.

"I'm willing to bet you were planning on going in what you usually wear, but it might be fun to see you in a more formal attire." The reaper said.

"Yes I was planning on wearing my usual outfit is that a problem?" She asked with a glare.

"Yep if I'm wearing a suit then the least you can do is wear a nice-looking dress." He said grabbing onto her arm. "Hey Ruby race with our partners to the bullhead port?" He asked.

"Sure." Ruby said grabbing hold of Neo. Neo looked confused then the look turned into a nervous one she had pieced together what was about to happen.

Apparently, so had Glynda. "Unhand me!" She got out before the world blurred.

When everything stopped spinning she looked around, and saw they were all at the bullhead port. The reaper had his hand on her shoulder making sure she didn't fall over. Ruby was holding the black-haired girl who still looked out of it.

"Kyle…" She said slowly. "Never do that again."

"Why not it was just a friendly race?" He asked with a smirk.

"You and Ruby can race in your free time if you so please, but don't drag me into it." She said shaking her head.

"Oh My OUM! She called me by my name in front of others." Ruby jumped with joy.

Glynda just put her hand to her head in exasperation.

"Alright guys let's go." Kyle said to the group.

"I never said I was going on this little shopping spree of yours." Glynda said crossing her arms.

"Aren't you worried what might happen with the those two being unsupervised, and you know me being me?" He asked curiously with a sly smile.

"You know what you make a compelling point." She admitted. 'And it might be a good chance to get away from work it's been a stressful few weeks with the transfers, and James bringing his whole damned army with him to Vale.'

She was going to kill that man she really would, or maybe just seriously injure him she hadn't decided yet.

With that decided they all got onto the bullhead and waited for its take off.

"I'm sorry, but I don't recall your name." Glynda started looking towards Neo.

"Can you understand sign language?" Ruby asked.

"Umm no I never learned it why?" She asked.

"It's easier on her." Ruby said. "Anyways this is Neo my girlfriend." She finished wrapping her arm around the shorter girl.

"Congratulations to the both of you but remember to keep things appropriate when you're at school." She said.

"Too late." Kyle coughed into his hand.

Ruby at least blushed. Neo just silently whistled. Glynda's eye twitched briefly. "Well that would explain the state your room was in."

"I don't know what you're talking about Glynda." Ruby said innocently. "What would we be doing that's inappropriate?" She asked putting on the most innocent face she could.

"If I hadn't seen your room and heard what Kyle here just said then I would actually buy that." She admitted.

"Well darn." Ruby said with a shrug.

Just then the announcement that they were about to land was made.

'That ride went by rather quickly.' She thought.

"Alright you three where are we going?" Kyle asked the group.

"I'm still not sold on the idea of getting a dress. I'm just here for supervision." Glynda said.

"Come on Glynda you'd look really pretty in a dress." Ruby said.

"She's right you'd look really good in a nice I don't know maybe purple dress." Kyle said putting a finger to his chin.

"Are you saying that without wearing a dress I don't look good?" Glynda asked somewhat offended.

"No you look good in general, and the times when you aren't scowling at something is when you look beautiful. We are just saying in a nice dress you'd look even better." Kyle said still thinking. "Yeah purple seems like your color." He added offhandedly.

Despite her feelings on the subject she couldn't help the light blush on her face.

"Oooohhh She's blushing Neo." Ruby "Whispered". "You know what that means." She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"Don't misunderstand what is happening here _Miss Rose._ "She defended herself.

"So you weren't blushing because Kyle called you beautiful?" Ruby asked with a raised eyebrow that happened to be mirrored by Neo.

"No of course not!" She said crossing her arms her face getting redder.

"You know I could teach you to be a better liar." Kyle offered with a grin.

"I'm not lying!" She said momentarily losing her composure and walking off.

The three of them just laughed. "Come on… we should… go get her." He said between laughs.

Once they finished laughing at poor Glynda they went after her. They found her about a minute later in front of a shop window.

"Yeah that'd look really good on you." Kyle said looking at the dress that had caught her eye. The dress was dark purple with the strap going up around the back of the neck.

"You really think so?" She asked before realizing who had just spoken to her. "I wasn't looking to buy this." She said crossing her arms.

Kyle looked to Ruby and Neo who just shared his thought. 'Bullshit.'

"That's a shame you would have looked amazing." He said still looking at the dress. "But hey if you're dead set on not wearing a dress then we will look for these two instead." He said walking into the store.

Glynda looked at the dress another moment before sighing and following the group into the store. 'I'm going to regret this.' She thought.

When they all got inside Ruby and Neo walked away from the teachers.

"Are you going to pick something out to wear? The men's section is right over there." She asked.

"I would, but I already have what I'm gonna wear for the dance." He said.

"What are you wearing then? I hope you didn't badger me out here to buy something when you're just going to wear your usual attire anyways." She said with a frown.

"I told you earlier I'm wearing a suit. I'm not that big if a hypocrite." He said with a laugh.

"Well what kind of suit?" She asked.

"You'll have to wait to find out." He said with a grin before it faltered. "That is if I go." He said staring off.

"Why wouldn't you be going?" Glynda asked genuinely confused.

"I might go take care of a contract that I've been putting off for a while." He said to which she winced.

She had almost forgotten he was a bloodthirsty murderer. Wait. "Why have you been putting it off? Every story about you says you're singularly driven on killing people that you have your eye on."

"Do they say that?" He asked still staring off. "While they aren't entirely wrong they aren't right either."

"What do you mean by that?" She asked.

"When actively tracking down and eliminating a target I am single minded yes, but that's while I'm on the job. Recently I've been off the job so to say since I've been doing things at Beacon and with Ruby I've just been doing contracts at my leisure." He said finally looking towards her.

"I see… I will admit that while I don't approve of what you do I can't say my initial thoughts on you were correct." Glynda said with a dry smile. "I thought Ozpin was insane when he talked about you becoming a staff member, but it looks like he was right this time he's always been a good judge of character." She finished with a dry chuckle.

"Nothing against old Ozzy, but when looking at me and Ruby specifically he's a pretty poor judge of character." Kyle said.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Most of Remnant knows of the Reaper's reputation, so while I don't actively hunt people as much as I used to that doesn't mean I'm not a 'bad guy'." He said with air quotes. "As for Ruby… well you were there the night of the dust robbery. Think back to the henchmen that weren't taken into custody." He said looking towards her.

He was right she had to admit as she remembered the bodies. Most of them had minor cuts that got through the aura which were to be expected, but a few… were much worse. One man was literally cut to pieces, and even on him were the smaller cuts from during the actual fight which probably meant the more serious injuries were made after. At first, she had trouble believing such a sweet innocent cookie-loving girl was responsible for that… massacre, but after what's been happening recently it seems much more plausible.

"You're remembering what you saw that night aren't you?" He asked although it wasn't really a question. "I wasn't there that night, but I know someone who saw what happened, and I got a few details from them, so I know it wasn't pretty."

"No at the time I couldn't imagine that little girl doing something like that, but after I heard you were involved it made a bit more sense." She said.

"I'm not sure if I should take offence to that or not." He said with a chuckle.

"Maybe just a little." She said with a small smile of her own.

"You're smiling I never see that." He said making her roll her eyes. "Now would you go try on that dress I know you were planning on doing that.

"Fine since you won't leave me alone about it I'll try it on." She said in fake frustration.

The reaper just rolled his eyes. 'Some people are just impossible, but I've always liked a challenge.' He thought with a smirk.

"Now while she's doing that I guess I'll see what the troublemakers are doing." He said to himself walking in the direction they had gone in earlier. 'This shop is a lot bigger on the inside compared to how it looks from the outside.' He thought as he walked through the store. It looked like a tiny little shop, but it was pretty good sized, it had changing rooms, and there seems to be more rooms in the back possibly for storage.

"Neo!" came a voice from the changing room area.

'Oh lord.' He thought walking over there.

When he got to the changing rooms he had to stop himself from laughing at what he was looking at.

'So much for resting.' he thought watching Neo try to teleport inside the changing room door only to be whisked out by a petal blizzard. There were fading rose petals everywhere. Then Neo noticed him standing there and grinned sheepishly stepping away from the door.

"What are you two doing?" He asked.

"She was taking too long, so I wanted to see what was keeping her." Neo signed.

"Be patient I'm pretty sure it's a virtue." He said before looking at her. "Have you already picked something to wear?" He asked.

She nodded and presented a white dress that faded to pink at the bottom.

"It suits you." He said with a nod.

"Yes it does." Ruby said walking out of the changing room with a bag.

"Hey I didn't get to see it on you!" Neo pouted.

"Nope it's a surprise." Ruby said popping the 'p' sound.

"No fair." Neo signed pouting again.

"Relax Neo the dance is tomorrow you'll see it then." Kyle said.

"Yes he's right you can wait just one more day." Said one Goodwitch who just walked out of a nearby changing room wearing the purple dress she had been looking at.

Our three sadistic musketeers just looked at her.

Neo's eyes were opened wide in awe.

Ruby who had been about to say something had her mouth hanging open.

Kyle had an eyebrow raised.

"What are you all so quiet for does it look that bad?" She asked inspecting the dress she was wearing.

"No… I was just right you really do look beautiful in that dress." He said slowly the other two girls nodded in agreement. Like he thought purple did look good on her. The dress also fit her extremely well. The strap around the neck made it look at least to him more elegant, and the dress ended on her lower thighs right before it reached her knee. When she turned slightly he saw the dress was also had an open back stopping about two thirds of the way down her back. "Damn." He whistled.

"So you really think it looks good on me?" She asked looking it over again while also hiding a small blush she felt somewhat exposed in the dress compared to her usual attire.

"Yes I think it does and seeing as these two haven't taken their eyes off you since you walked out I think they'd agree." He said pointing to the two behind him.

"I'd tap that." Neo signed.

"Neo!" Ruby screamed pushing the girl's hands down.

"What did she say?" Glynda asked quirking an eyebrow.

"Nothing absolutely nothing." Ruby said with a smile.

"So Glynda you gonna get the dress?" Kyle asked.

"Yes I should have enough to cover the expenses." She said checking her purse.

"Alright then let's check everything out." He said walking to the checkout.

"We aren't quite done yet." Glynda said.

"Oh? What else do you guys need?" He asked. 'Hey Roman how much does your wallet have in it?'

"We need shoes for the event, and we usually wear heels with dresses." She answered.

'My wallet? Why do you wanna know… When the fuck did you steal my wallet?!' Roman thought.

Ruby visibly paled more so than usual. "Lady stilts…" She whispered.

Neo heard her and smiled. 'This might be fun.'

After another twenty or so minutes the three had the shoes that they needed. Neo and Glynda had theirs picked out within the first few minutes, but Ruby was another story. They spent the better part of ten minutes chasing her around the store trying to get her to try something on, but in the end they all got a pair of 'Lady Stilts' as Ruby so eloquently put it.

"Now are we ready?" Kyle asked the group.

"I have everything I need." Glynda said.

"I'm good." Neo signed.

"I hate you all…" Ruby muttered before getting flicked. "Yeah I'm ready." She said rubbing her head.

"Alright let's go." He said walking up the checkout. Glynda started walking to another checkout line before Kyle rolled his eyes and stopped her. "I said I'd be paying, didn't I?"

"You don't need to pay for mine I have plenty of lien for it." She said as her bag was snagged from her hands. "Hey!"

"Too late." Kyle said having it rung up with the other girls' stuff.

"There was no reason to do that." She said with a frown.

"Sure there was I said I was paying for everyone." He lied as he looked at Roman's once full wallet.

"I will pay you back for it." She tried.

"My Oum." He said rolling his eyes. "How about this. If you wear this dress and give me your first dance of the night, then we'll call it even." He said.

"Alright if that's all you want then so be it." She said looking away.

'She has her pride I'll give her that.' He thought with a sigh.

After that the group headed back to Beacon with Glynda insisting they get back before it gets too late.

"Well that was fun." Ruby said happily.

"Quite." Neo agreed.

"Well Glynda wasn't this fun?" Kyle asked with a smirk.

"It was an interesting trip to be sure." Glynda said before blushing slightly. "But I was still there only for supervision."

"Mhmm you were watching something, but it wasn't these two." He said with a laugh as the bullhead landed.

"Wow it got late fast didn't it?" Ruby asked. It was already dark. Their sense of time must've been warped thanks to the madness that is shopping. Well that's what Kyle was thinking about because the trip didn't feel like it took more than an hour or two.

"Goodnight everyone." Neo signed before giving Ruby a peck on the cheek and teleporting away.

"Alright she said goodnight by the way." Ruby said. "I'll head to bed as well. Goodnight Kyle! Goodnight Glynda! Remember don't do anything inappropriate on Beacon grounds." She yelled as she sped off.

"That girl." Glynda said shaking her head.

"Shall we go back to the teacher's dorms?" Kyle asked.

"Yes we should." She said. "Wait where are you going?" She asked since he was walking towards the student dorms.

"I want to see if I can hear it." He said vaguely.

"Hear what?" She asked following him.

When they got a few feet closer she realized what he was listening for.

"RUBY! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!" Came three voices from inside the dorm.

"She hasn't talked to her team much today has she?" Glynda asked the reaper.

"Nope she most definitely has not, but oh well. Now then back to our own rooms I'm rather tired shopping is always exhausting." He said walking back with her walking beside him.

"It's frustrating sometimes." She said after a few minutes of walking.

"What is?" He asked curiously.

"I can never get a good read on you. Most people in the academy are easy to read, and with how long I've worked with him even Ozpin is somewhat readable, but you always do something unexpected." She answered.

"Well I've always liked mysteries maybe you can solve the mystery that is me, and finally figure out what I'll do next." He said stopping at his door.

"Maybe so, but only time will tell." She said with another small smile.

With that she turned and started walking to her own room.

"Remember I have your first dance." He called out.

"Just don't be late." She said back to him.

 _With Kyle_

'I enjoyed that a lot more than I thought I would. What a strange day.' He thought before falling back on his bed.

 _The Next Day_

The school day passed by with no real incident. After she got back the night before Ruby basically experienced an interrogation from her teammates on where she had been all day, and what she had been doing.

Classes went on like they normally did with CRDL finally returning to class and refusing to go within ten feet of Ruby.

The rest of their classmates had calmed down a bit, and gotten more comfortable with Ruby, but everyone aside from RWBY and PNJR still stayed at least five feet away.

Before they knew it, the dance was upon them. Yang was in a nice white dress that stopped at the middle of her thighs, and she was the welcoming committee it seemed. Weiss looked to be hanging out with Neptune, and Blake was talking with Sun. It was going well if they were being honest. Then Yang's sisterly instincts went wild when she saw Ruby walking up holding another girls hand. An admittedly familiar one.

"Hey Yang." Ruby said as they walked past or tried to.

"Woah woah woah. I think it's time we've been properly acquainted don't you think Ruby?" She said looking at Neo who was in her white/ faded pink dress.

"I thought I told you yesterday this is Neo my girlfriend." Ruby answered confused.

"Girlfriend?" She asked.

"Yes Yang I'm a lesbian so what?" Ruby asked narrowing her eyes.

"Damnit!" She shouted. "I finally have proof that I won our bet, but dad doesn't know you're here, so I can't tell him." She said sadly.

"You two bet on my sexuality back when I was a little kid?" Ruby deadpanned.

"Haha well you see." She said rubbing the back of her head.

"Never mind." Ruby said walking past the blonde with Neo silently laughing the whole way.

Yang recovered just in time to freeze up and stare at what was in front of her. Walking side by side were the two combat instructors talking to each other. Glynda was wearing a dress that showed off a lot more skin than Yang ever thought she'd see from the strict teacher, and then the reaper was wearing his usual color scheme in the form of a suit. His suit was pitch black with a crimson red button up showing from under the jacket.

"Uhhh…" Yang said as they walked by.

"Please close your mouth Ms. Xiao Long you're starting to drool." Glynda said once she passed.

"You know I think you broke her." Kyle said looking back.

"She will be fine." Glynda said as she kept walking.

"That's a lovely dress Glynda." Ozpin said walking up with his cane and a coffee mug. "I didn't think you liked dressing up for these kinds of things.

"Thank you, and you're right I don't like to, but this year I decided to wear one." She said. 'Or it was decided for me, and I was dragged into Vale against my will.'

"Well it looks lovely on you." Ozpin said.

"I couldn't agree more." Came a voice from behind Ozpin.

The Atlesian general walked over with a smile.

Glynda had to force herself not to say something demeaning to this insufferable man.

"If it isn't the General of the Atlas military." Kyle said looking to the general with a grin. "It's so good to see you again."

'Again?' Glynda thought before Ironwood said something.

"You! What're you doing here!" He said pulling out his pistol that Kyle thought was probably overcompensating for something.

"James put that thing away!" Glynda yelled.

"No this is a wanted man, and he is on Atlas's Kill on Sight list." The general said about to shoot.

"James. Stand down." Ozpin said seriously.

"Ozpin why?" He asked.

"I don't go to your academy and shoot at your faculty, so you don't need to shoot at my faculty members." He said calmly.

"Faculty?" Ironwood said in confusion. "You can't be serious Oz! You have a wanted criminal working in a school for children!" He yelled.

"Yes, a school for children who not only have to fight the Grimm, but also other huntsmen who have strayed from the right path, and this man has never missed one of his targets." Ozpin said. Before James could respond Ozpin added "And besides if he is teaching here then we know where he is for a majority of the day."

He looked to Glynda. "Are you okay with this fiend being your colleague?" He asked.

"At first I reacted the same way you did, but unfortunately it isn't that simple." She said looking to the still smiling reaper.

"Well as fun as this has been general I think it's time I went to dance. Are you coming Glynda?" He asked holding his hand out.

"Yes, I just hope you know how to dance." She said taking his hand and following him to the dance floor.

"Now even I didn't see that one coming." Ozpin said watching the two. "As of yesterday, it looked like she hated him." He finished before walking away.

Ironwood just stood there in shock a moment before walking away.

 _With Kyle and Glynda (Never thought I'd type that)_

"Would you care to explain why the general seems to hate you with a passion?" Glynda asked.

"Well I may have disguised myself as a patron at an event he was at and killed a woman who was interested in making a large donation to a new research project he was trying to get started." He said with a nostalgic smile. "He's hated me ever since."

"Really? That's why?" Glynda asked letting out a laugh. 'Wait why did I just laugh he's talking about killing someone, so why did I laugh?' She asked herself.

"And I may have cut off one of his arms, but it was mechanical, so I don't think that was the reason since he seems to have had it fixed." He said putting his free hand on her hip and raising the other one that was holding her hand.

"So he was a metal head even back then." Glynda chuckled putting her unoccupied hand on his back.

With that said the two danced to the music a bit before Glynda spoke up again.

"Why exactly do you always have that color scheme on?" She asked.

"The black with red on the inside?" He asked confused.

"Yeah why's it always red?" She asked.

"Well I guess I just use it as a reminder." He answered.

"A reminder of?" She asked growing impatient.

"The fact that everyone is equal." He said.

"What?" She asked confused.

"It doesn't matter who you are; man, woman, child, human, faunas, poor, rich, strong, or weak it doesn't matter because we all bleed red." He answered slowly.

"That's rather morbid, but I guess you are right we do all bleed red." She admitted.

"It's a reminder for me more so than others because no matter how many I kill, no matter how many I battles I win, and no matter how strong I may become eventually I will die like everyone else. Well almost everyone else." He said thinking of an old wizard.

"So does that mean you don't see yourself above the people you kill?"

"Yeah pretty much I see myself as me and them as them everyone is the same to an extent." He replied.

"I see does this mean that you see the other students as being the same as Ruby." Glynda asked finding a flaw in his logic.

"In the sense of the question yes she is the same in that she is a living breathing person who will eventually die, but that doesn't mean that I don't like certain people over others." He said with a smirk. "And for whatever reason I find you moving up the ranks the more I work with you."

"How so?" She asked.

"Because you're fun whether it be to mess with or just go shopping with like yesterday. That was fun and funny to different extents." He said.

"You know I really don't like you." She said blushing.

"Well if that's the case then our dance can be finished. Judging by the looks we've been getting, or more specifically you, there are quite a few people who would love to dance with you. The main one being the esteemed general." He said as he backed away. "I thank you I had a lovely time."

"Wait!" She said a little bit louder than she meant to. Before he could go anywhere she grabbed his hand again and pulled him back to where he was. He quirked an eyebrow in question but judging by the look of amusement on his face he wasn't confused.

"Seeing as it is your fault that I'm wearing this and thereby the target of lecherous stares from certain _people_. You have to take responsibility by keeping me company, and by extension keeping them away." She said narrowing her eyes.

"You could've just said you liked me." He shrugged putting his free hand back to her hip.

"Just shut up and dance." She said.

 _With Ruby and Neo_

"Those two are cute don't you think?" Ruby asked as she and Neo watched the pair dancing from above them.

"Yeah, but it is not a pair I saw coming." Neo signed with a laugh.

"Me neither." Ruby said with a laugh.

"Well then shall we?" Ruby asked with an evil smile.

Neo nodded and returned the smile. Both girls pulled out buckets full of glitter. Oh no not again.

"On three." Ruby whispered. Neo nodded.

"One."

"Two."

"Three!" She shouted dumping the glitter onto the dance floor.

 _With Kyle and Glynda_

"Three!"

He looked up. "Not again." He said.

Before she could question what was happening the world blurred again.

After a few seconds she turned to the reaper. "I told you not to do that with me again!" She shouted before looking to where he was pointing.

"If you wanted to ruin that dress then I could have left you to get hit by that." He said sitting on the second-floor balcony.

All she saw was glitter.

"Was that?" She asked.

"Yes."

"Because of them?"

"Yep."

The vein in her head started bulging. 'Ruby I hope you remember how to get out of her semblance.' He thought as the not so Goodwitch spotted the perpetrators.

 **A/N: Hey again peoples. I hope everyone enjoys this.**

 **To answer a question from a review by I believe JackTheSpade. No the rest of RWBY never planned on Accepting the new Ruby. They said at the start of the chapter they don't accept her, and even though they were called out on it by the reaper they didn't actually change their goal to bring her back. They just felt somewhat guilty about it.**

 **Anyways like also Follow, Favorite, Review, and whatever else you all do.**

 **~Laz out.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY but I could. If I did Qrow would probably be Ruby's dad.**

Chapter 17

"Geez Glynda I said I was sorry!" Ruby complained while sitting in detention. Kyle was quietly laughing from a corner of the room.

"Sorry doesn't make up for covering most of the partiers in glitter and attempting to do the same to faculty members." She said calmly. "And you're still here because you seem fit not to tell me where Miss Neo is. That's why you're spending enough detention time for the both of you."

"I told you I don't know where she went." Ruby lied. She knew that after the dance Neo needed to head over to Mountain Glenn to help Roman finish his preparations.

"Mhmm." Glynda hummed. "Well until detention is up you will be here, and you will behave."

"Why is detention right now though? It's late and I can just serve the detention tomorrow? You know when the usual detention times are." Ruby said.

She did have a point Kyle thought. The glitter thing hadn't happened but maybe an hour ago, and they were all still in their outfits they wore to the dance.

"W-well I just thought a swift punishment would be necessary for ruining the dance." She said trying to defend herself.

"I don't know it was a nice dance and all, but I twisted my ankle on these dumb stilts on our first dance. Neo felt bad and suggested we did something else fun that didn't involve heels." Ruby said with a shrug. "The thing we picked is one of our favorite pastimes." She finished.

"While I am sorry that your dance went poorly that didn't mean you needed to mess it up for the rest of us." Glynda said with a frown.

"You and Kyle could've kept dancing you know." Ruby said. "The music was still playing, and a few people changed, but it didn't stop the dance."

"It was our responsibility as teachers to make sure you are disciplined accordingly, and I thought swift punishment would be the best solution." She defended again.

Ruby just sighed and looked to Kyle who shrugged.

Elsewhere Cinder just walked out of the CCT building after planting the virus they would need with a smirk.

'Even though Mercury and Emerald weren't happy about it Ruby and Neo's prank did serve as a nice distraction for Ozpin and the general.' She thought taking her time walking out. 'I wonder how much she would be able to help if she was actually on our side. She may even be able to help bring the reaper over as well since those two seem close.'

With a few mental altercations to her plan she smiled and made up her mind.

 _The Next Day_

"I still can't believe you glitter bombed the place." Yang said with a laugh. When Ruby had finally got back Yang and Blake had to keep an angry heiress from skinning the girl alive.

"Yeah, but Glynda wasn't happy that I ruined her night." Ruby said with a sigh.

"Neither was I." Weiss added in with a grumble.

"Lighten up Ice Queen it was just a harmless prank." Yang said with a smile.

"It was not harmless to my bank account that was an expensive dress." The heiress complained.

"At least it was entertaining." Blake said looking out from over her book.

While they were talking the team was heading towards an assembly they had to go to before picking their first missions.

"Remember guys we need to find something in the southeast." Ruby said to the group.

"Yep we do the mission assignment by day and investigate by night." Yang said with a grin.

With that the group went in and listened to Ozpin's speech before going over to the kiosks to pick missions.

They found a search and destroy mission in the southeast quadrant and immediately tried to sign up for it. An error popped up saying that it wasn't available to first years.

The group sighed before Glynda Goodwitch walked up.

"He mentioned you all would try and get this mission and would probably go regardless of which mission you picked, so how about this." Glynda said registering them for the mission they wanted. "You all get the mission you want, and to make sure you are all properly supervised I will be changing the assigned huntsman." She finished. 'Sorry Bart.' She thought to herself.

"Oh yay! Thanks Glynda!" Ruby said jumping and hugging her before receiving a harsh glare from the stern teacher.

"When did those two get so close?" Yang whispered to her other teammates who were just staring. Had any of them tried that they would probably be in detention for a semester rather than just getting a glare.

"I don't know, but every time we look she has new friends in different places." Blake said thinking of the Neo girl who seemed all too familiar. Wait…

 _Flashback_

" _Ladies, Ice Queen." "Hey" "Always a pleasure. Neo if you would?"_

 _Flashback end_

'It can't be.' Blake thought paling. 'I know you've killed but you wouldn't throw in your lot with scum like Torchwick… would you…?"

"Blake? Remnant to Blake?" Weiss asked with an annoyed look.

"Oh sorry it's nothing." She lied. 'I hope I'm wrong about this.'

"Riiiiiiight." Yang said before looking and seeing both Goodwitch and Ruby gone. "Where'd they go?" She asked before looking behind them to see the two walking off towards the bullhead port. "Come on let's not get left behind.

 _With Ruby and Glynda_

"You're gonna be the huntress going with us on our mission?" Ruby asked jumping up and down excitedly.

"Yes that's what I just said." Glynda said with a shake of her head. 'Both Ruby and Kyle are so Oum damned confusing.' She thought trying to see this happy excitable girl as the same one who killed those men back then. Kyle was even worse they both will do or say something then do a 180 at the drop of a hat.

"Oh yay! We can find some time to talk about what happened last night after you let me go from detention." Ruby grinned suggestively.

"We didn't do anything at all!" Glynda said scowling with a light blush.

"That's not what I heard." Ruby said whistling.

"What did he tell you." She asked lowly.

"Well it isn't what he told me it's the way he didn't tell me." She said thinking back.

 _Flashback to that morning_

" _So you're all ready to head out?" Ruby asked._

" _Yeah I've got the things I need hopefully this shouldn't take more than a day or two." Kyle said walking to the edge of the academy grounds._

" _What aren't you worried poor old Glynda will miss you?" She asked with a snicker._

" _She should survive. I gave her a… parting gift last night after you left." He said with a grin. "And no, I'm not telling you." He finished before running out into the forest._

" _No fun." She mumbled before shrugging._

 _Flashback End_

"So he didn't tell you anything just that something happened." Glynda summarized with a sigh. "I'm going to kill him." She mumbled darkly.

"Bad thoughts." Ruby said flicking her teacher who just glared at her. "What?" She asked.

"Refrain from flicking me if you would." She said sighing again. "And don't worry about what happened it is nothing like what you and your little girlfriend did the other day."

Ruby blushed. "Hey we are talking about you here not me. No cheating." She pouted.

"How is that considered cheating?" She asked quirking an eyebrow.

"Well you see-" Ruby started before getting interrupted.

"Hey wait up you two!" Yang said running after them with the rest of RWBY.

"It did take them a while to notice we left." Glynda whispered to the rose girl.

"Yeah they're like that sometimes." Ruby said with a laugh.

"Since when are you two so friendly?" Yang asked.

"Me and Glynda are shopping buddies!" Ruby said throwing an arm around the woman next to her who just looked down at her.

"No. No we aren't." She said flicking Ruby away with the help of her semblance.

"So mean." Ruby said in a mock hurt voice.

"Professor Goodwitch!" Came a voice form behind the group.

'Oh lord here we go.' She thought sighing. "Yes Bartholomew?" She asked with a glare.

The speed demon almost stumbled but was able to save himself from falling. "Why did you remove me from the Mt. Glenn mission assignment?" He asked. He was looking forward to the chance to go see the area again.

"I decided that with the special circumstances revolving around team RWBY going on this mission that I will be the one to supervise them on this task. You don't have a problem with that do you?" She asked with an unvoiced promise of pain if he did.

"U-uh No mam!" He said with a gulp. "I'll just be on my way to see which assignment I now have." He said speedily shuffling away. Didn't know those two words could go together like that.

"Wait what did you just say?" Yang asked.

"I think she was saying that she was our new supervising huntress." Weiss said paling more so than usual.

"This just got a whole lot harder." Blake muttered. How were they supposed to sneak away from the strictest and probably scariest teacher in Beacon?

"Yes I will be the huntress you all follow on this mission, and I hope you're ready we are leaving in a minute." She said looking at her watch.

Before any of them could flee to pack she added on "Dr. Oobleck already gathered all the supplies that would be needed for this mission, so it is waiting for us at the landing platform."

They all collectively breathed a sigh of relief. With that out of the way the group headed to where their bullhead would be. Ruby and Glynda were still in the front while WBY were now trying to figure out how they would sneak away from the strict witch. Unfortunately for them they weren't quite as far back as they should have been.

"They aren't very good at the whole secretive thing. Well Blake is pretty good, but the others not so much." She said in an apologizing tone to Glynda who just shook her head.

"No they aren't, but I guess it isn't a skill we really teach here is it." She said looking to the younger girl. "You on the other hand seem to be very adept at it."

"I had a good teacher." Ruby said with a laugh. "Did you know they're trying to bring the 'old' me back?" She asked.

"The old you?" Glynda asked confused.

"The girl I was before I met Kyle." She clarified.

"What makes you think that?" The teacher asked.

"Well I may or may not have bugged our dorm back when we first arrived. I also removed the bug that I believe the school decided to put there." Ruby said looking to Glynda who somewhat tensed.

"We want to make sure that everyone is safe and not doing anything they shouldn't." She said.

"Mhmm then why weren't there any in PNJR's dorm when I checked there?" She asked raising her eyebrow.

"When did you have time to check other dorm rooms?" She asked.

"My semblance is speed, so I was able to make time. Anyways that didn't answer my initial question." She pressed.

"Your group as I'm sure you know has the most members who were at some point on the wrong side of the law. You already know about yourself. You probably know Ms. Belladonna's past."

"Bits and pieces, but yeah."

"And then there is the Schnee heiress and a club busting Ms. Xiao Long."

"I guess that's fair." Ruby admitted. "And you know since I found the bugs that Kyle did too."

"Yes his went offline a few minutes after he first entered the room, and any new ones we placed when he was out were removed just as quickly." She admitted.

"Wow you must have really wanted to watch him." Ruby said with a smirk towards the older woman.

"If we have to go through this again you'll be back in detention for the next month." Glynda warned.

"So I'm right that blush just proves it." Ruby said with a laugh.

"I need to make sure he stays out of trouble or else it'll look bad on Beacon as a whole." She said.

Ruby thought back. Night at the docks check. Every time we meet Neo and Roman check. His White Fang hunts check. This morning check. "You guys haven't been doing a very good job at that." She admitted.

"I know." The tough act she had up crumbled, and she sighed. "I can see why he was never really caught by the authorities. We're having enough trouble keeping tabs on him."

"I noticed, and I'll bet most of you didn't realize he left this morning." Ruby said.

"I didn't notice, but he said he would be taking some time off to go do an assignment he's been meaning to do last night." She said.

"You let him go without a fuss?" Ruby asked surprised.

"I… yes…" She said with a frown.

"Who are you and what have you done with the super strict on our asses Glynda?" Ruby asked.

"Hush you!" She said with a glare. "I was somewhat distracted at the time, so I just didn't say anything."

"Oh? Now I'm really curious." Ruby said her eyes widening.

"Now then everyone." She said turning to the group who were following. "The bullhead should be here momentarily, so grab these bags and let's go."

'Not gonna answer my question are you.' Ruby thought with a grin. 'I can play the waiting game.'

With that the group grabbed their bags and like Glynda had said the bullhead landed after a few seconds. The group then climbed into the bullhead and settled in for the ride.

It wasn't too long before they had left the city limits and landed in a ruined city.

"Now then students as you know this is a search and destroy mission. The mission is to find the source of the recent increase of Grimm in the area. Do any of you remember what can draw Grimm to an area?" She asked.

"Negative emotions." Ruby muttered while looking around the area.

"Yes, negative emotions like hatred, sadness, anger, and others that are all likely emotions being given off by the group we are looking for." She said causing the WBY of RWBY to pause.

"You knew we were looking for a group of people here?" Blake asked.

"Well yes I was in the room when you all gave your reports about your most recent fight with Torchwick, and through one of them we learned what you were looking for and where." Glynda said readjusting her glasses. "A secret White Fang base could be one of the reasons so many Grimm are congregating in this area."

"So much for having to sneak around." Yang said to the group who sighed in relief.

"Wait which of us… told you… that…?" Blake asked with realization dawning as she looked to their leader.

"What? We learned something useful. I told Kyle and he told me to mention it during the questioning. That's probably part of the reason we were allowed on this mission meant for second years." Ruby explained.

"That's the only reason actually." Glynda corrected. "We knew of increasing Grimm activity in the city, and when you mentioned something about a base in this quadrant and this area having the largest increase it gave us a possible reason for that increase."

"Oh…" Yang started before looking to Ruby. "You still should have told us that you mentioned it Rubes."

"Don't worry about it there's a lot I don't tell you, and it worked out." Ruby said happily.

"What else aren't you telling us? We are supposed to be a team. It doesn't help when someone's keeping so many secrets." Blake said eyes narrowing.

"The word hypocrite comes to mind." Ruby muttered under her breath before looking at Goodwitch and smiling evilly. "Well there is one thing I recently learned about the headmaster, and some-" Ruby was stopped by a scowling Goodwitch.

"Not another word _Miss Rose._ " She said while covering the girl's mouth.

"Hmmrhy." Ruby said or tried to.

Glynda removed her hand and Ruby grinned. "Sorry guys you heard her no secrets today." She said with a shrug.

"Enough of this pointless chatter." Glynda said looking forward. "You all have a teacher to impress, and some of you will need to work harder than others." She finished looking at Ruby who whistled innocently.

"Now then for those who haven't noticed there is a small pack of beowolves just down the street there. I shouldn't need to say more." She added motioning towards the pack who had just caught their scent.

RWBY got their weapons ready with a variety of faces. Ruby was grinning with an almost hungry look in her eyes. Yang had a confident smirk. Blake narrowed her eyes. Weiss' face didn't really change she just adjusted her posture.

"Let's do this." Ruby said excitedly.

"Yeah!" Yang said running straight towards the pack.

Blake rolled her eyes and followed her gung-ho partner with a small smile.

"Weiss go ahead with them I'll provide cover fire from over here." Ruby said sinking the tip of Crescent Rose into the ground and adjusting the scope before firing a beowolf's head off.

"Very well." Weiss said dashing forward and quickly dispatching a nearby beowolf with Myrtenaster.

Yang had already run into the pack knocking away and killing beowolves left and right. Blake was following behind her killing any that were just knocked to the side while watching her partner's back.

Ruby was killing any that were in her teammates' blind spots. She paused to reload when she saw Glynda move her crop tossing a beowolf away from the cloaked girl.

"While you are doing your team a favor watching all of their backs it is important to be mindful of your own surroundings." She said to the girl.

When she finished speaking a bullet whizzed by her. When she looked back she saw a beowolf a few feet behind her start fading.

"I knew you were here with me." Ruby said with a smile. "We have to watch each other's backs, right?"

"Yes I suppose we do." Glynda said with a smile and another flick of her riding crop.

Without saying anything else Ruby went back to covering her teammates and Glynda was watching the young reaper's back and observing the students and their fighting.

"Your team fights well, but Miss Xiao Long wastes a lot of energy and movement in her attacks and miss Schnee's posture is still too rigid." Glynda said as the fight was winding down.

"No comments about me and Blake?" Ruby asked curiously.

"You already know that you need to watch your own back as well, but I already mentioned that. Miss Belladonna on the other hand seems to be very on edge, and while that isn't always a bad thing she could lose focus in the heat of he moment and make a mistake." Glynda finished.

"Yes she does seem slightly off doesn't she." Ruby admitted closing her baby and dashing to the side decapitating a final beowolf with a swift swipe from Mercy.

"As team leader it is your duty to make sure your team can perform at their absolute best it isn't just you and Kyle vs. the world anymore."

"I know." 'It's Kyle, Roman, Neo, and I against those other two chess masters.' She mentally corrected with a smile. 'But I guess our little group could possibly increase.' She tacked on as an afterthought.

 _With Kyle_

'Have fun on your little hunt. I am disappointed that I couldn't join you for this one.' Roman's voice went through the reaper's head.

'I know you were looking forward to this one, but I'll deal with it. You try to not get taken down by Ruby's team and whoever their huntsman is.' He thought while observing his target from afar. 'Who knew she would be coming to Vale.' He thought to himself.

'I suppose the one-horned bull was too embarrassed to have warned her. Or too prideful who knows.' Roman thought. The reaper could picture him shrugging with absolutely no care.

'Well I'll have to observe a bit more before I go to work do have fun in the next few days.' Kyle thought before dropping the connection.

 **A/N: Well here this is. Not much happening in all honesty aside from the mission beginning for both parties.**

 **I hope you all enjoyed.**

 **Follow, Favorite, Review, and whatever else you all do.**

 **~Laz signing out!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY**

Chapter 18

"They just don't stop coming." Weiss said killing another Grimm.

"Getting tired already Ice Queen?" Yang said after taking a breath. She wouldn't admit it, but she was tiring too.

"That just means we need to start stamina training again." Ruby said as she twirled around the Grimm near her. Crescent Rose dismembering any that got too close. 'I thought that after I started the training they would continue on their own time like I did when Kyle first introduced it to me. It isn't even that bad just a few laps around the school while being chased by the trainer who's allowed to use their weapon to "motivate them".' She thought with a fond smile. "Good times."

"I really don't want to go through that hell again." Blake commented from the side. She was better off than Weiss and surprisingly Yang, but she was wearing down too.

"That wasn't hell that was a lot simpler than what Kyle did to train me." Ruby said.

"You made us run twenty laps every morning while taking potshots at us!" Weiss exclaimed.

"Yes, and that wasn't bad. Kyle took me to a Grimm infested area and let them chase me around weaponless while he watched. Just because my semblance is speed doesn't mean I don't get tired. He only interfered when I was about to die, but otherwise he said it would also help to learn how they hunt." Ruby said before pausing for a moment. "And it did." She added.

Glynda wasn't quite sure what to think of this conversation. On the one hand that is a horribly inhumane thing to do to a child which isn't saying much considering who he is, but on the other hand it obviously seems to have worked.

"Did you never think he was insane?" Yang asked when the last Grimm died.

"I already knew he was insane it's kind of an occupational hazard, but I knew he was really good at what he did and he could teach me a lot, so I stuck it out and here I am." Ruby said happily putting Crescent away again. 'And I may have picked up a few of his quirks.'

"That makes a disturbing amount of sense." Glynda muttered.

Ruby looked hurt. "Are you saying I had a bad role model as a guardian?" She asked getting teary-eyed.

"Yes. Yes I am." Glynda said flatly.

"Then I guess opposites do attract." Ruby whispered to Glynda with an evil smile.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Glynda said looking away.

"Mhmm then you're saying you aren't crushing on Kyle?" She taunted.

"No I most certainly am not!" Glynda said trying to hide her blush.

In a blur of petals Ruby appeared behind the older woman Mercy in hand. "Right… be careful Glynda… you need to not get distracted like this." She drawled out as she killed another beowolf. The rest of RWBY was dealing with another small pack. "Did you know that people tend to get flustered when called out on a crush? I learned that firsthand, and Kyle milked it." She said as she leaned against the back of Goodwitch.

"I'm sure he did it seems like something he would do." She said with a smile. "I won't so readily admit that you're right, and I need to remember that I'm the adult here, and more importantly the huntress supervising you all. With that said I can't lose my head do to your childish taunting."

"Mean! I'm not childish." Ruby said killing another beowolf.

"Your actions and your… figure would suggest otherwise." Glynda said with a smirk.

"Wha- You did not just go there!" Ruby yelled with a blush.

"I did maybe you'll develop a bit more when you grow up." She said still smirking and killing a few beowolves with some aura lances.

"I can **not** believe you'd go that low!" Ruby said killing another few beowolves.

"I have no idea what you mean." Glynda said somewhat enjoying herself.

The rest of WBY had broken away during the fight and were now on their way back to only to find a smiling Goodwitch. Weird. And an angry looking Ruby. Weirder.

"Okay what'd we miss?" Yang asked walking up to them.

Ruby looked up to Yang and seemed to stare at her chest before mumbling something under her breath and walking away.

"What's the matter with her?" Weiss asked.

"Oh just give her some time." Glynda said still smiling.

"Alright then…" Weiss said.

 _With Kyle_

Kyle has been watching his target, and her actions for a while now.

'It doesn't look like she is going to be moving to a different location anytime soon… but why has she stopped here?' He thought still observing the group. They had decided to stop in what looked to be an abandoned village. 'From the looks of it this place hasn't been lived in for years.' He mused.

It seemed too easy, and in his line of work that often meant it was a trap or something similar. There were eleven people total. His target and ten guards that could easily be dealt with, and some grunt fodder doing patrols.

'Even with his pride he should have warned the leader of his little cult this just doesn't make sense.' He thought with a frown. 'And what's got her so worked up?' He asked himself feeling anger and annoyance coming through the mark on his neck.

He smiled a dark smile. 'I can have fun with that later, but first I need to figure out what I'm looking at. This group has been moving nonstop since I found them, but now they've stopped here in the middle of nowhere… maybe they're waiting for something. A meeting? Why here?' He thought to himself.

'Oh well… I guess I'll just have to go down and ask them personally.' He finished thinking with a shrug.

He was about to move closer when he saw a group of people emerging from the forest and heading to the village. It was none other than the one-horned bull with a posy of six others with him probably some of his more elite soldiers compared to the grunts that have been doing the heists.

'This just got a bit more difficult.' He thought placing his hand on his scythe before deploying it and swinging it in an uppercut motion behind him. The only noise heard was the sound of gurgling.

"Pathetic." He muttered looking at the grunt now impaled on his scythe. "They never work alone which means that… the partner is over there…" He said looking to a nearby tree. The grunt in question looked like he was trying to contact someone. "You were unlucky enough to be put on this job, so I'll be sure to make this quick." A voice came from behind the faunus.

He couldn't even fully turn around before his head was severed from his body.

"I'll give them props for noticing me." He said to himself before using part of the grunt's uniform to clean off his blade. "But at the same time why would they have these low ranks patrolling the area instead of someone with actual competence? This just doesn't sit quite right." He muttered as he watched the two higherups of the Fang interact from another area.

The two seemed to separate and go into different buildings. The reaper just decided to play the waiting game.

 _With Adam_

"I want all patrols to report in." Adam said to the faunus in charge of communications for the group.

"I've gotten constant reports from all units except unit thirteen sir." The faunus said.

"So he's here. Good." He said quietly. "I've had to move my plans up a bit because of his interference, but I'm still ready to do what I need to do."

"We are here and stand by you sir." One of his elites said the others nodding.

"This will be our chance to take out two birds with one stone." Adam said to the group before going into an emptier area for some silence.

'Soon very soon.' He thought to himself with a small smile.

 _With RWBY and Glynda_

After a few minutes of sulking Ruby got over what Glynda had said and was back to killing Grimm with a smile while still messing with the strict teacher. WBY were still trying to figure out why those two were so friendly, and where that base could be.

"I think I've got it." Yang said to Weiss and Blake.

"Got what?" Blake asked.

"I know why they seem so close! The reaper and Goodwitch showed up together at the dance yesterday and danced together, so if she has gotten with the reaper then she is probably trying to get used to Ruby." Yang said slamming her fist on her open palm.

"I guess that would make sense, but at the same time I can't see those two being anything more than civil." Weiss said thinking about Kyle and Glynda.

"My brain stopped working for a good few minutes when I saw them yesterday, so I know what you mean." Yang said.

"Alright now that that question has been answered. What about our actual mission because all we've done is kill wave after wave of Grimm." Blake said to her teammates.

"We need to scout and find where most of the Grimm are congregating." Ruby said jumping into the conversation and scaring her teammates.

"She's right and that means that we need to stop drawing so much attention to ourselves." Glynda added.

"I can go ahead and be one of the scouts I am a sniper after all." Ruby said.

"You can be one of them, but you need someone else with you to watch your back." The teacher said.

"I can do it. It'll be just like old times." Yang volunteered only to receive flat stares from Ruby and Glynda.

"Yang you are by far the loudest person on our team, and one of the flashiest fighters next to Weiss." Ruby said. "I will take Blake." Ruby decided.

"Oh joy." She deadpanned. 'This might be a good time to learn more about her again, but… with how well that went last time I don't know.'

'We've wasted too much time today hopefully she can keep up.' Ruby thought.

With that the two went off to scout ahead while Weiss, Yang, and Glynda went to find a suitable place to camp for the night since it was getting late.

 _With Ruby and Blake_

Ruby signaled Blake to follow her lead and watch her back. Blake was fine with that, but if it got dark then she would need to take over.

The two quietly moved to the top of one of the taller buildings to get a good look around. The building was empty, so it wasn't a very difficult task and when they reached the top Ruby pulled out Crescent Rose and shifted it into its gun mode to look around through the scope.

"No signs of Grimm congregation." She said stoically looking around. "Hey Blake?"

"Hmm?"

"Can you make the jump across to the next building?" She asked.

"I probably can why?" Blake asked.

"Why do you think? I'm about to go to the next building obviously." Ruby said crouching down.

"Wait." Blake said putting her hand on the girl's shoulder.

"What?" She said looking back.

'What just happened to her?' Blake thought. A few minutes ago she was happy go lucky like always, but now she seems colder. "There might be Grimm in any of the next buildings and we don't know how structurally sound those buildings are."

"If you want to stay here then so be it." She said brushing her hand off.

"You aren't seriously thinking of going alone are you?" Blake asked.

Ruby just looked at her teammate for a second before pushing aura into her legs and activating her semblance momentarily to get the speed she needed then jumped onto the next building landing completely silent.

"Ruby! Come back!" Blake hissed before jumping after her roof-hopping leader.

Ruby turned around to look at Blake. "Stay quiet." She whispered.

"What's the matter with you? Why are you being so reckless all of a sudden?" Blake asked.

"What's the matter with me is that it just hit me that we have made zero progress on this mission, and the first day is already almost over." She responded.

"We are going to be looking for a while we can't just magically find what we are looking for every time." Blake argued. She understood the urgency of this especially since it's the White Fang, but Ruby was just being plain reckless.

"A mission once started is to be completed quickly and efficiently. If I can keep looking before this day is over then I want to do it quickly." The red reaper said. "And walking all the way back to the ground floor only to come back up is stupidly slow."

"You're right it is slow, but what if one of these rooftops collapse from your jumping between buildings?" Blake asked still trying to reason with her leader.

"It is the way I chose to do this, so if that is my punishment then so be it. The risk doesn't change the fact that this is the fastest way to look without drawing the attention of more Grimm." Ruby said evenly.

"… You know what… even though I don't like it you're right. The sooner we find the base the sooner we figure out what's going on." Blake said after a moment. "Lead the way fearless leader."

Ruby gave a small smile. "I figured you would understand the easiest." She said before looking through her scope searching for more Grimm.

"Well I do have a… history with these guys." Blake admitted with a smile of her own. 'I guess she wants to get to the bottom of this as much as I do.'

The ladybug duo continued building hopping where they could to find large crowds of Grimm.

 _With Roman and Neo_

"You got any threes?" Roman asked.

'Go fish.' Neo signed.

"Dammit." Roman muttered drawing a card.

'Do you have any fours?' Neo typed out looking to the faunus next to her.

"Every time." Perry muttered giving away two fours.

Neo just grinned in response. 'Any jacks?' she asked Roman.

"Didn't I ask you for jacks like two turns ago?" Roman asked narrowing his eyes but still giving her the jack.

'Just got it.' She signed with a sweet smile.

"Uh… boss?" Came a voice from outside the room.

"Oh for the love of… What is it? I'm kind of busy at the moment." Roman said putting his cards down and walking to the door.

"One of our patrols just returned saying that they were attacked by some huntresses." The grunt said.

"Do they know who they were or how many?" He asked.

Behind him Perry was listening in on the conversation while Neo was looking through his cards.

"Yes they said they saw two. One looked like the Belladonna girl that recently deserted the Fang." Roman held in a sigh. "And the other one they say started shooting at them from the top of a building. They didn't get a good look, but they said the person was wearing red." The grunt said.

'Of course they're already here.' He thought to himself. "Alright… wait did you say that they just returned?"

"Yes they did."

'Fucking animals.' He thought. "So one of our patrols just led them right to where the base is?"

The grunt was silent.

"Out now!" He yelled making the other man flee out of the room.

"Game over everyone we're going to have company soon." He said looking to Perry and Neo.

"Uh sir what do you want us to do?" Perry asked.

"Get everyone up and finish loading the train." Roman said before grabbing his cane and walking out the door. Perry ran out behind him and went to alert everyone while Neo walked up. "No you aren't allowed to fight red." He said.

She momentarily deflated. "It's hard to keep a cover up when all you planned on doing was sparring, and probably going all out, or making out with the girl." He reasoned.

'We wouldn't have… done both of those things.' She signed with a fake smile.

"Just one is bad enough. Depending on who their huntsman is then we need to be careful and keep the act up." He said walking over to the train to find the faunus quickly loading everything onto the train.

"Did I mention that I hate this plan?" Roman asked.

Neo nodded 'You never have liked cells.' She signed.

 _With Ozpin_

"Ozpin!" Came the voice of an angry general.

"James." Ozpin said not turning around from the window of his tower.

"Last night someone broke into the CCT tower and took out all of the men stationed there." He said walking up to the headmaster's desk.

"I know that already." Ozpin said coolly.

"You know? Then why aren't we doing anything about it, and where is Glynda?" He asked.

"She has taken it upon herself to chaperone a group of first years on a mission." He replied.

"Why would you let her leave when the enemy is already here?" He asked.

"I didn't let anything happen she was already gone by the time I found out, and I had no way of stopping her." Ozpin said hiding a smile.

"You and I both know that if you said something to her then she would come back." The general said.

"Maybe so, but unfortunately there is no scroll reception out there." Ozpin said.

"Letting her go when we need her here was a mistake Ozpin." He said before walking out.

'Had she stayed then she'd just be sitting here like we are.' Ozpin thought to himself.

 _With Ruby and Blake_

After following the admittedly stupid grunts Ruby and Blake made sure it was the right place before going back to retrieve the others. Now they were sprinting through the empty streets to where Goodwitch said they would be setting up camp. Well Blake was sprinting Ruby was at a nice easy run.

"You know I really thought you'd be faster." She said offhandedly.

"Well unlike someone I know my semblance isn't speed." Blake said through huffs.

"I'm not using my semblance though." Ruby said looking at the faunus girl.

"Just be quiet and run." Blake said with a sigh.

After a few more minutes the duo found the rest of their team.

"We found their base." Ruby announced as they neared the group.

"That was a lot faster than I thought it'd be." Yang said.

After catching her breath Blake spoke. "We ran into a White Fang patrol group and followed them to their hideout."

"How do you know it isn't a trap?" Glynda asked.

"We scoped it out a bit after they entered and it's definitely the place." Ruby answered.

"Very well then prepare yourselves we will go down there in one hour." Glynda said to the group.

 _With Kyle_

While waiting for something interesting to happen the reaper's interest was piqued when Adam's group all exited the building they had been in and walked up to the two guards in front of the larger building that held his target. After a few words were exchanged that the reaper couldn't hear the guards nodded and led them inside.

'Hmm well I guess I'm not seeing anything else here.' He thought deciding to go in after them.

The building had two stories with some of the grunts walking around here and there. Kyle looked to the building's roof to find two sets of guards there as well.

'I've found my entrance.' He thought before hopping off the building he was on to the ground and sneaking closer.

'Killing all the guards would take too long, and only taking out a few of them in this area would still be hard to not notice even for them.' He thought to himself letting a patrol pass.

When they had passed he ran over to the base of the building and jumped up onto the side and started climbing up being mindful of the less sturdy looking footholds. 'Now then to get their attention… I saw this in a game once I wonder…' He hung right near the top of the roof and whistled.

The faunus guards who were closest heard the noise pretty easily while the other two who were on the other side of the building didn't.

They looked to each other before nodding and approaching the edge of the building. "Go ahead and check what that noise was." The first said.

"Fine." The second said rolling his eyes under his mask.

He went to the edge of the building and looked over the side only to find nothing. He was about to walk away when he heard another softer whistle.

"What was that." He asked aloud kneeling next to the edge.

His partner heard what he said, but didn't hear the whistle, so he had no idea what the other guy was doing. He did however see his partner go over the edge of the building without a sound.

"What the hell." He muttered walking over with his gun ready.

When he looked over the edge he was met an almost pure white mask with a bloodstain on one side, and glowing red eye slits. "Hi there." Whispered a cold voice. That was all the grunt heard before he was grabbed, and his world went black.

'Well there's that.' Kyle thought to himself looking at the nearby balcony that now held two unconscious guards. 'What I wouldn't give to have Mercy right now or maybe something a little smaller.' He thought to himself. 'I guess dead men tell no tales, but this one is going to spread regardless.'

The reaper then climbed to the top of the roof and snuck behind the final two.

"Did you hear about what's going on?" One asked.

"What do you mean?" The other asked.

"Adam's plan."

"What plan? I just got assigned to this unit, so I'm kind of out of the loop."

"I guess that makes sense that you wouldn't know then. He will be taking high command of the Fang tonight."

"What about the current leader?"

"We aren't making enough of an impact right now, so Adam plans on removing her from her post, and leading the White Fang and the faunus to the future."

"I joined because I wanted to make a change, and it sounds like I'm not alone in that." The grunt said smiling.

"We are all brothers and sisters in the war for freedom." The other said.

"How interesting." Came a voice from behind the two.

The two faunus turned around pointing their guns at the reaper who already had his scythe pulled back.

"I'll reunite you both with your fallen brothers and sisters." He said coldly before slashing at the two. The scythe hit, but their aura protected them. 'Stronger than the last few.' He mused as he activated the wind dust crystal in the scythe making the veins in the scythe start glowing green.

The grunts had recovered from the initial hit and were now shooting at the reaper. He responded with a diagonal slash releasing a gust of wind to stop the bullets. It was a bonus for the reaper in that they both stumbled because of the powerful gust.

One started to step back to regain his footing, and that foot was hooked by the blade of the scythe pulling him forward and draining what was left of his aura.

"Goodbye." Kyle said bringing the scythe back around and cutting the grunt in half. The other grunt took out a sword and slashed at the reapers back only for the blade to be blocked by the scythe's shaft.

"You guys did pretty well in this fight." Kyle said. Although the mask didn't show it he was actually somewhat impressed especially with how easily those other grunts were taken down. "But still that only prolonged your death." He finished spinning both himself and the scythe.

Each spin brought more pain to the grunt whose aura had tanked another hit or two until he was finally relieved of his arms and shortly after his head.

With the grunts taken care the reaper put the scythe away. It could be cleaned later. 'So much for being quiet gunfire tends to draw attention, but oh well.' He thought walking to the door leading to the rest of the building. 'Let's see what this plan of yours is Adam.' He added with a dark smile. 'This should be interesting.'

 **A/N: Well damn. This chapter was the intro to the more action based stuff later. I dabbled with writing a bit of an action thing with the grunts there tell me how I did, and more importantly how to improve it.**

 **Onto important matters there were two references made in the last scene with Kyle mentioned above. One is a game series, and it is pretty easy in my opinion. The second wasn't as obvious, but was still a borrowed idea from another game. If any of you can name both references correctly then you'll get a cookie.**

 **Anyways I hope you enjoyed. Like I said we will move into the more fun parts of the separate missions next time.**

 **Follow, Favorite, Review, and whatever you all do.**

 **~Laz out.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: Yeah I don't own RWBY who knew.**

Chapter 19

"Sir! Multiple patrols report the sounds of gunfire near this complex, and we haven't been able to contact any of the units stationed on the roof." One of Adam's elites whispered to him as they walked through the building.

"I see tell the patrols to continue with their assigned tasks, and we will do the same here." Adam ordered. 'This is going very well.' He thought to himself.

Without another word they continued on their way after the one elite left to give the orders.

The group reached a set of large double doors and opened them.

"Adam you've returned already… Why?" Asked Sienna Kahn from her seat in the center of the room with her guards standing to the side.

"I've come to talk about the future. For the White Fang and the faunus as a whole." Adam answered seeing a small flash of red from the rafters. 'He's watching… hopefully he plays along here.'

"What about the future?" Sienna asked narrowing her eyes slightly.

"I along with some of the other members of the Fang believe that while we are taking steps in the right direction change isn't happening fast enough." Adam said.

"What exactly are you trying to say Taurus?" Sienna asked again.

"I believe we need a leader who will push further for our cause, and from what we've all seen" He said gesturing to those around them. "You don't fit that position."

"Do you know what you're insinuating? This is treason! Guards take this man out of my sight." She ordered only for her guards not to move.

"As you can see I'm not the only one of this opinion." Adam said smiling.

"What!? Why yo-" She was interrupted when Adam jumped forward and stabbing her in the stomach. "You won't get away with this…" She breathed out as she slumped to the floor.

"I'll agree to disagree." He muttered before looking up. "Brothers and sisters of the White Fang today Sienna Kahn has helped advance our cause for the last time by becoming a martyr. She was killed by none other than the reaper. That is what you came here for isn't it?" Adam called out causing the guards to look around nervously.

Clapping could be heard throughout the room. "I must say I never expected this." A cold voice echoed out.

A black-clad figure dropped from the upper rafters next to the body of the former leader of the White Fang causing several guards to draw their weapons. Adam stopped them with a raise of his hand before walking towards the reaper.

"Well? This is what you wanted isn't it?" He asked stopping when he saw the reaper draw his scythe.

"Yes, this was why I needed to find her, and I have to say I didn't really see this coming from someone like you." Kyle answered before kneeling down towards the woman. "Well well it looks like he took my kill." He whispered to her.

"… of course… you were involved… Kyle…" She said before coughing up blood.

"Yes, you and I both know that eventually I come for everyone." He said quietly. "Even family."

The others in the room couldn't tell what the two were saying, but they were getting nervous.

"Does… that include Roman… as well?" She asked.

"No when he goes so will I you know that."

"I… suppose… so… despite the… circumstance… it was nice to… finally see you one… last… time… give the others… my regards…" She finished up before laying her head back to the ground.

"I'll let Roman know later, and if I see the other one I'll tell them too." He said standing up and bringing his scythe up before delivering a quick crescent slash removing Sienna's head from her body.

Seeing the reaper was done doing whatever he was doing Adam spoke up. "I took advantage of an inevitable situation, and now that I've assisted you on this I have to ask you something." Adam said causing the reaper to look at him the slits of his mask still glowing slightly. "I ask you to leave the White Fang alone."

"Hmm… I won't promise to stay away because eventually I will have another contract for someone in your… organization, but unless it's absolutely necessary I suppose I don't have to go through your different bases killing everyone next time." The reaper said.

"I suppose that's the best I'm going to get from you isn't it?" Adam asked.

"Yes, it is. As long as they stay out of my way I will leave the Fang be unless I have a contract for one of its members." The reaper answered putting the scythe away and walking to the one-horned bull. "Do we have an accord?"

"Yes, I believe we do." Adam said shaking the man's hand.

"Well this has taken up a lot of my time, so I will be on my way, and if you'd be so kind please tell your patrols not to try and do anything stupid again." He said walking to the exit.

"Sienna Kahn we thank you for all that you did for the Fang, and we will continue to push for equality in not only your memory, but the memories of all of our fallen brothers and sisters. We push for the future not for ourselves, but for the faunus of tomorrow, all those that will come after us!" Adam yelled out getting a cheer from the White Fang in the room.

 _With Kyle_

'Oh Adam Adam Adam.' The reaper thought shaking his head as he left the complex and soon after the town. 'I never thought you'd make a move like this.'

Once he was safely in the woods away from the Fang he took out his scroll and looked at the video he had just recorded. 'I don't think I could ask for better blackmail material.' He mused watching the video catching Adam's talk with Sienna, and it's fun little ending. 'Sienna… you never were very lucky between the four of us.' He mused.

 _Flashback_

"… _it's called poker." A very young Roman said to the group holding a deck of cards. "If we want to survive in this world we need money, and this is one of the best ways to get it if we do it right."_

" _I don't want to just survive I want to change people." Said a much younger Sienna._

" _You've always had big dreams haven't ya big sis." Kyle said from his area of the table._

 _They were in an old building that was likely on the verge of collapsing with the ratty shape it was in, but even if it was falling apart it was their home._

" _You wanna change the world we get it we get it, but to do that you still need money." Roman said with a grin._

" _I don't want to just survive either." The youngest of the group said causing the other three to look at her. "Money is great, but I want to be strong. I want to protect my new family…" She finished quietly._

" _Since you're the youngest I think it's more our job to take care of you." Kyle said with a grin._

" _Maybe right now, but we won't always be together, so we all need to get strong." She said pouting._

" _She's right." Roman said jumping back in. "I wasn't thinking before. Money doesn't mean we survive. We need to be able to protect our money, and each other if we want to make it." He said grinning._

" _Alright it's settled." Sienna said causing the others to look back at her. "There's one thing we all need, and that is to get stronger. Whether it's revenge against people who hurt us, protecting what's ours, or simply protecting each other we all need to get stronger." She declared._

" _Yeah let's do it! Starting tomorrow we start training!" Kyle yelled excitedly with the other three giving approvals in their own ways._

 _Flashback End_

'You never did very well with the physical side of training, but you still chased your dream.' He thought with a smile.

 _With Roman_

'Roman it's done… Sienna sends her regards.' Came Kyle's voice through the link.

'I see… never did get to say goodbye did I.' Roman thought with a hollow laugh. 'Now there's only the three of us, and we haven't met up with little sis in years.'

'I know… I might go check in on her and say hello for the two of us before heading back to Beacon. I heard that she is close to Vale.' Kyle thought.

'Tell me when you do. I'll probably be in a jail cell somewhere by the time you get there, so I won't have anything better to do.' He responded.

'Sure thing, but for now I believe you have Ruby's team to deal with.' Kyle said with a laugh.

'And whatever huntsmen might be with them. There's no way they'd send a group of first years to Mt. Glenn unsupervised.'

'Well good luck with that.'

'Right.' Roman finished the thought before looking to Neo who was staring at him. "It's nothing Neo. Come on we have a train to drive."

Neo just looked at Roman before slowly nodding.

 _With RWBY and Glynda_

"Alright children we all know where our objective lies, so let's go." Glynda said to the group who just nodded.

Without saying anything else Ruby and Blake led the group to the entrance of the subway tunnels.

When they got down to the tunnels the group saw members of the White Fang running about loading things into a train. It didn't take more than a few seconds for one of the many grunts to notice them.

"Intruders!" He shouted drawing the attention of most of the Fang in the area along with a certain master thief and his protégé.

While some of the Fang went to stop the intruders Roman's voice came over an intercom system. "Ladies and gentlemen get on the train we are leaving now." He said before climbing into the train himself and starting it up. "Neo you know what to do." She nodded and disappeared in a flash of white.

RWBY and Glynda were quickly going through the White Fang who stayed behind to fight.

"We need to get on the train." Ruby said to the others.

"Let's stop a train!" Yang yelled charging forward.

The rest of RWB and even Glynda rolled their eyes at the blonde girl before following her.

'Why did I want to do this again?' Glynda asked herself with a sigh.

The group then leaped to the top of the train as it started to roll out.

'Here we go.' Ruby thought with a smile.

Blake opened a hatch leading into the car. "Guys… we have a problem." She said to the group who gathered to look at what was in the car.

"Bombs… Get to the next car now!" Glynda said to the group. They did as instructed and watched in confusion as the car decoupled itself. "Ruby check the other cars and tell us when you reach one without a bomb. We'll be right behind you."

Ruby nodded and sped off to the next few cars before stopping at a fifth one. "This one doesn't have a bomb!" She shouted to the group who were quickly following her and racing the decoupling cars. When they arrived at the bombless car the group took notice of a large number of White Fang climbing to the top of the train car. Some of them were in the Atlesian paladins.

'Damn it James!' She thought. "Students you go below and try to stop this train. I believe I have some disciplining to do." Glynda said walking towards the mob.

Ruby smirked. "So heroic Glynda!" She shouted as she went down into the train car with the rest of her team.

"What an insufferable young girl." Glynda said with a smile before directing her gaze on the Fang in front of her. 'This looks like a great stress reliever, and they once belonged to James even better.' She thought with a dark smile of her own.

 _With RWBY_

"Alright guys we need to get to the front of the train." Ruby said to the others.

They nodded and quickly went to the next car where a familiar foe was waiting.

When they entered Ruby gave a small smile to their opponent.

"I'll take care of this one guys." Yang said walking forward before Blake caught her shoulder.

"No, you go ahead with the others I'll take care of this one." Blake said narrowing her eyes at the multi-colored girl.

"Are you sure?" Yang asked.

"Yes, I'm sure. I'll catch up when I'm done here." She said.

"Alright then." Yang said before running past the others into the next car.

"Let's hurry and follow her." Ruby said to Weiss. Weiss nodded and the two ran ahead, but not before Ruby signed a quick message to Neo. 'I don't care what you do just don't kill her.'

Neo watched the two pass before smirking and looking towards Blake.

"Does she know?" Blake asked.

Neo was slightly confused but didn't let it show. She just kept her smirk and laid her parasol across her shoulder.

"Answer me! Does Ruby know who you really are? What you really are?" She asked again with more force.

'Is this girl stupid?' Neo asked herself. 'I don't think she really knows who Ruby is, but I will give it to her that she figured me out. I probably should've used a different name.' She mused while still just looking at the girl in front of her.

"If you won't answer then I'll just have to get the answers out of you the hard way." She said drawing Gambol Shroud.

Neo finally reacted and smiled even more before motioning her to bring it.

 _With RWY_

"Do you think she'll be alright?" Yang asked the other two as they ran through the cars.

"She will be fine." Ruby assured her sister. "For now, it looks like we have bigger problems." She said looking towards a large faunus carrying a chainsaw.

"You guys go ahead I can handle this one." Weiss said stepping forward and drawing Myrtenaster.

Ruby looked between the faunus and her partner. "Yang help Weiss out with this one." She ordered.

"You want to go ahead alone?" Yang asked somewhat worried.

"Don't worry about me." Ruby smiled before disappearing in a swirl of rose petals and shooting the lieutenant from behind causing him to stumble forward. "He's all yours guys." She yelled going into the next car.

"I've never killed a Schnee before." The lieutenant said cranking his chainsaw up.

"And you won't have the chance to." Yang said cocking he gauntlets.

"We'll see about that." He said before running forward and swinging at the two.

 _With Ruby_

"Ah there you are." Ruby said walking up.

"So, she actually listened and didn't fight you." Roman said looking to the cloaked girl.

"I need to stop this train now, so if you'd be so kind?" She asked drawing Crescent Rose.

"Sorry red no one can stop this train anymore the controls seem to have been destroyed. Such a shame." He said sarcastically readying Melodic Cudgel.

Ruby just grinned and got ready. "This'll be too easy." She said dashing forward and slashing diagonally with her scythe only for it to be knocked away by Roman's cane.

"You forget that I've known Kyle for much longer than you, and you both have very similar styles." Roman pointed out.

"Hmph alright you got me there, but can you keep up with my speed?" She said before darting around trying to confuse the thief. (Lot of open room in a train car huh.)

"If your opponent is stronger or faster than you then outsmart them." Roman said shooting the handle of his cane out and hooking it to the wall. Ruby didn't fully see the line and ran straight into it clotheslining herself.

She rolled a few feet before picking herself up. "No fair." She muttered.

Recalling the handle of his cane he laughed. "Life isn't fair red you should know that by now. Sometimes you gotta play dirty." He said twirling his cane.

"You're right…" She said before looking up and smiling. "Get ready Roman." She said putting away Crescent Rose. "You know my scythe style, so let's see how you do against this." She finished pulling out Mercy.

 _With Blake and Neo_

Neo motioned her to come on. Blake didn't always like making the first move, but Neo was content to wait until this train reached its destination.

Blake activated Gambol Shroud's gun mode and fired a few shots to see what the other girl would do and was disappointed when the other girl just blocked all the bullets with her parasol. 'Bulletproof. Of course.' She mentally sighed.

Without another thought she leapt forward slashing down towards Neo only for her target to disappear before her eyes. She suddenly felt a pain on her side, so she used her semblance to place a copy before jumping back again to see her opponent putting her parasol back onto her shoulder.

'What just happened?' She asked herself before shaking her head. 'Focus.'

She ran up and went for a horizontal slash, but it was blocked again by the parasol. Blake saw the girl's foot coming towards her and activated her semblance again going on the attack only for each one to be dodged or blocked.

The entire time Neo still wore her smirk as she danced around the other girl's attacks. The girl was already frustrated, so Neo decided to see how far she could push her. 'Ruby said to not kill her but didn't say anything else.'

With that devilish thought in mind she pulled out her scroll while blocking the cat faunus's attacks and started typing.

Blake didn't know what the girl was doing, but she did know that the girl was just playing with her.

Said girl then showed the screen of the scroll to her.

"You need more training :P" This was accented by Neo sticking her tongue out.

Blake growled taking Gambol Shroud's sheath off and dual wielding her weapon. 'Why… can't… I hit her!" She seethed. Every slash she made was easily blocked by the girl's parasol.

Before she knew what hit her Neo opened the parasol and twirled it towards Blake knocking her weapons to the side before delivering a quick kick to the leg making her kneel and two more to the girl's stomach making her double over.

Before she could recover Neo brought her parasol down on her opponent's head slamming it down onto the cold metal floor.

'I thought that'd be more of an interesting fight.' Neo thought to herself before shrugging. 'I've done my part on this little assignment, so I suppose I should make my way back to Beacon.' She thought before disappearing in a white flash.

 _With Weiss and Yang_

It's safe to say these two were faring better than their faunus teammate.

Weiss was using her glyphs to dart around the lieutenant and hit him from his blind spots while Yang was in front keeping the attention of him and his chainsaw.

"Gah!" Screamed the lieutenant before sticking his hand out and catching the heiress before throwing her against the wall of the car. "Annoying little bug." He spat returning his attention to a red-eyed Yang.

"Keep your hands OFF my TEAMATES!" She shouted punching the man and making him stumble back.

"You'll have to do better than that to knock me down." He said swinging his chainsaw and knocking the girl away.

He also managed to cut some of her hair off with the chainsaw.

"You MONSTER!" She screamed.

He got ready for another wave of attacks but was caught off guard when his legs were incased in ice.

"Schnee…" He growled out looking to the heiress who was panting but smiling nonetheless.

Using the distraction given to her Yang unleashed a barrage of punches across the man's chest and ended it with an uppercut to the head, knocking the lieutenant free of the ice and across the room. After waiting a moment, they saw he wasn't getting up anytime soon.

"Alright we should go check on the others." Yang said helping her teammate up.

"You're right but give me a moment my head is still spinning." The heiress responded.

 _With Ruby and Roman_

"You are so much faster without that gardening tool." Roman said more to himself than Ruby.

"Be nice to Crescent Rose!" Came a voice from the surrounding area. Ruby was using her speed to the fullest while being mindful of any of Roman's tricks.

"As impressive as the speed is it doesn't mean anything if you don't do anything with it." Roman said flatly.

"So impatient." Ruby snickered before appearing and lunging at him.

The lunge hit his back causing him to hiss at the pain.

Seeing an opening Ruby descended into a flurry of slashes and stabs towards the man but was surprised when each slash and stab were blocked or diverted by Roman's cane.

"Not bad red you're faster than your cat friend, but right now this still isn't enough." He said. Even though he blocked most of them some of the hits were still getting through his guard. 'It's almost like the death by a thousand scratches thing.' He mused.

Ruby was not happy to hear that, so she decided she needed to go faster. She took a few steps away to catch her breath before having to dodge an explosive flare from Melodic Cudgel.

"In the real world your enemies won't give you that breathing room." He said going on the offensive. "They could be on you in seconds, and now you're on the defensive." He finished swinging his cane and hitting the girl's side. He went for another strike, but it was blocked by the warped blades.

Ruby looked up and smiled at him. "I guess you're not a pushover after all." She said. In truth during the partner sparring she hadn't focused too much on Roman because she was worried about what Kyle would be doing.

"We resolved to make ourselves strong. The reason you got off so easy when we first met was because I had to go and didn't need to deal with Goodwitch." Roman said still pushing down on the locked blades.

"Well this isn't over yet!" Ruby yelled breaking the weapon lock and lunging at him again.

He sidestepped the lunge and swung at the girl, but she was quicker on the attack going into another flurry of attacks that he couldn't block.

With a final cross slash, she kicked him across the train.

"Not bad red. You may surpass him yet." He said from his sitting position against the wall.

"Not any time soon." Ruby muttered with a smile.

"You never know." He said before hearing the door open and drooping his head pretending to be unconscious.

"Ruby are you alright?" Weiss asked as she walked in.

"Oh yeah I'm fine but the controls are destroyed there's no way to stop the train." Ruby said causing Weiss to curse under her breath.

"Where's Yang?" Ruby asked concerned.

"She went to check on Blake." Weiss said before hearing a scream. "That's probably her." Weiss said heading back in the direction of the scream before Ruby grabbed her arm.

"They'll be fine but for now we need a shield or else we could all die." Ruby said pointing to the quickly approaching tunnel blockade.

Weiss nodded and formed and encased the entire car in crystal ice.

'Yang will be fine, and she can help Blake who is probably unconscious, or maybe just injured. Glynda can handle herself she's smarter than the rest of us, so she'll think of something' Ruby thought to herself before feeling a crash.

 **A/N: Well there that is. I hope you all enjoyed.**

 **Anyone wanna make a guess on who the fourth person is? No it's not an OC.**

 **Anyways addressing last chapter's question. Yes the first reference was the Assassin's Creed whistling lure. The second was more of an obscure reference to Yasuo's Windwall from League of Legends.**

 **As always Follow, Favorite, Review, and whatever else you all do.**

 **~Laz out.**


	21. Chapter 21

**I don't own RWBY**

Chapter 20

"Ugh just how fast was that train going?" Ruby muttered to herself before looking around. 'Alright in one of Vale's central plazas, check, Grimm running amok attacking the civilians, check, the rest of my team moving… for the most part Yang seems to be protecting a prone Blake, so she's either dead or unconscious, check. Well this will take a while if we have to kill all the Grimm alone… wait where's Glynda?' Ruby thought before seeing a paladin being launched out of the tunnel they had just reopened. 'Oh, there she is.'

A very angry looking Glynda walked out of the tunnel opening tossing any Grimm too close back into the tunnel before beginning to close the hole.

"You know I thought that'd be a lot worse." Roman muttered from where he was laying. Unfortunately, his job wasn't quite finished, he still had to be captured. 'Oh well I guess I can just lay here and wait I'm not really in a hurry.' He thought to himself.

Ruby just smiled and shook her head at Roman before getting to her feet and drawing Crescent Rose.

The next half hour was a bit of a blur for her just systematically cutting down every Grimm that crossed her path. She barely even noticed when the Atlesian forces and other hunter teams arrived to help.

When everything calmed down Ruby noticed that Blake had woken up, and now she, Yang, and Weiss were walking towards her.

"Ruby… how well do you know that Neo girl you were hanging around the past couple days?" Blake asked causing Ruby to tilt her head in confusion.

'That's kind of random considering what just happened.' She thought to herself. "What do you mean?" She asked.

"How well do you know her? Did you know that the girl I fought was the same as the one you're friends with?" Blake asked again slightly narrowing her eyes.

'Of course she figured it out.' Ruby thought mentally rolling her eyes. 'We should have used a different name for her, but I guess that was a decision Cinder made.' "What're you talking about? There's no way that's the same girl." She said shaking her head.

"It is Ruby it all adds up. Roman called the girl Neo back when we fought the paladin, and then you introduced us to your friend also named Neo. It isn't a very common name. Then they both have similar umbrellas."

"I can't believe it." Ruby mumbled before staring at the ground with a faraway look in her eyes.

"Hey it's okay Rubes." Yang said running up and hugging her sister. "I had a feeling that bitch was bad news anyways." She finished.

Ruby had to keep herself from openly attacking her sister. No one talks about her ice cream like that. Just to make herself feel a bit better she wrapped her arms tightly around the blonde stabbing her nails into her sister's back.

Yang winced slightly but could feel her little sister shaking in her arms, and she enjoyed the fact that she was here for her when she needed it.

Blake and surprisingly Weiss joined in on the awkward team hug.

"It's alright Ruby we can tell Glynda about it when she's done fixing up the area or go straight to Ozpin to tell them about her." Weiss offered.

Ruby mentally froze. 'Shit what do I do about this?' She asked herself. 'Oh well I'll worry about it later.' She thought as she saw Roman being delivered to the Atlas soldiers by Mercury and Emerald.

With her repairs done Glynda walked up to the team she was supervising. "I apologize to all of you." She said to the group who looked confused. "I was supposed to be supervising you on this mission, but even so I still let this catastrophe occur."

Ruby walked up and put her hand on Glynda's shoulder. "It's alright Glynda we are all in this together. None of us were able to stop the train, but we did do a pretty good job with the cleanup." She said with a smile.

"I suppose you're right, but it's always after something goes wrong that you think about how you could have done something different to change it." Glynda said with a frown. "Regardless now we need to go make our report to the headmaster." She finished.

Team RWBY just nodded and followed the strict witch back to Beacon, and ultimately to the headmaster's office.

 _With Kyle_

'There you are.' He thought looking to a collection of tents surrounded by a wall of sharpened logs. 'It's been awhile, but then again the Branwen tribe and I aren't on the best of terms.'

With that thought in mind he looked up to the sky. It took him a lot longer to find them than he thought it would. The moon was hanging in the sky illuminating parts of the forest.

"I guess I can wait until morning to say hi. I doubt I'll be too missed at Beacon if I miss an extra day." He muttered before picking a suitable place to rest through the night. 'Looks like everything went well on Ruby's side if Roman's explanation was anything to go by.' He thought before closing his eyes and going to sleep.

 _With RWBY and Glynda_

"That concludes our report Headmaster." Glynda said dutifully after recounting what happened on their mission.

"I see. Thank you Glynda. Is there anything else you all would like to add?" He asked to the strangely quiet team RWBY.

Blake and the others shared a look before collectively looking at Ruby who just looked to the ground. With a sigh Blake spoke up. "Headmaster we have reason to believe that one of Torchwick's henchmen has infiltrated Beacon with one of the visiting teams." She said drawing the attention of Glynda and Ozpin.

"Really? What reason do you have to say that?" He asked bridging his hands on his desk.

"Nothing concrete, but both individuals are named Neo. We heard Roman call her that when we fought him in the paladin. Then they also look kind of similar, and both have an almost identical umbrella." She said.

"You said her name was Neo?" He asked getting a nod from Blake. After looking through his computer he found her file. "Neo, no last name, no living family, and student of Haven Academy." He said to the room. "Without direct proof there isn't much that can be done, and her team hasn't said anything about the girl that might criminalize her, so are you claiming the entire team to be criminals?" He asked the group.

Ruby just waited to see what would happen. 'They're a lot closer than they need to be.'

"What? No I didn't mean to say that… it's just there are too many similarities for it to be a coincidence." Blake said.

"Maybe so… if you feel so inclined then keep an eye on her." Ozpin said causing Blake to give him a confused look. "Right now, nothing can be done because there isn't any real proof, but if you keep an eye on her, and catch her doing something then we might be able to do something." He finished with a small smile.

"I understand. We'll keep an eye on her." Ruby said.

"Well if that is all I won't keep you here any longer. You're free to go, and even though you just came back from a mission you still have class tomorrow." He said.

He received nods from the group and then watched them go only for Glynda to sigh before following them. "Now there's two to keep an eye on." She muttered causing Ozpin to chuckle to himself. 'What have these kids done to that strict witch? Or perhaps this one was a mix of them and the reaper.' He mused as he drank his coffee.

 _The Next Day_

 _With Kyle_

When the sun started to rise Kyle opened his eyes. 'No interruptions… when's the last time I slept in the woods and that happened?' He asked himself as he looked around to make sure none of his stuff was missing. He was close to a bandit camp after all.

Satisfied that he had the few things he usually carried he dropped out of the tree he had slept in.

"Now then how do I want to do this?" He asked himself with a smile. 'With all the sneaking around for nothing last mission I suppose I could use a change of pace.' He thought walking towards the entrance of the camp. As an afterthought he snapped the buttons in his cloak together and put his hood up. 'This will be fun.'

"You there stop!" Shouted one of the guards from his place in front of the gate.

"I'm sorry! I'm a little lost and was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of Vale. I have money." He shouted to growing crowd of people who were drawn in by the yelling.

The bandits just smiled and started walking towards the cloaked individual.

One bandit was sitting towards the back her face scrunched up in thought. 'That voice sounds so familiar…' "You idiots get away from him." She shouted too late.

The bandits had already surrounded their prey and one walked up. "We'd be happy to relieve you of your money. Dangerous woods around here you never know who might try and mug you." He said with a grin.

Kyle just smirked. 'Too easy.' He thought as the first one moved to grab him. When the bandit tried to grab him, he lashed out with a kick, and unbuttoned his cloak enough to use his hands.

"Hey! You'll pay for that!" The kicked man yelled as the others moved in to attack.

"How violent." The reaper said with a chuckle.

The next two to reach him swung at him with a short sword and hatchet respectively.

Kyle caught the wrist of both throwing them into each other before sending them both to the ground with a roundhouse kick.

"Shoot him!" One called out as he primed an old looking pistol. 'I'm not even sure that'd properly fire.' Kyle mused before jumping to the edge of the group. All of the bandits with guns kept their sights on him, and opened fire.

Kyle smirked before grabbing the closest bandit and getting behind him. "In a situation like this you should all really be careful of friendly fire." He said as he body he was holding fell to the ground bleeding. "Oops too late." He shrugged.

He was about to go after some of the shooters, but he caught sight of something flying towards him. 'Finally decided to come play?' He thought to himself with a smile.

Spinning to the side he caught the weapon thrown at him. "Still using Chakrams?" He asked.

The other bandits parted ways letting one of their higherups through.

"I like them they're not very common, so people don't usually know how to fight against them." She said twirling the other one in her hand.

"It's good to see you again Vernal." Kyle said shooting at the girl.

Running to the side to avoid the hail of bullets. "Usually when I hear that I'm not being shot at." She yelled returning fire.

"Oh well you know me." Kyle said jumping out of the way of the bullets before running at Vernal and slashing down at her.

"Yes I do, and I know you're not here to kill anyone." She said blocking the slash.

"How do you know that?" He asked.

"You would have gotten into the camp without being seen then taken out your target, and if you were bored enough to start a fight like this you'd do it on your way out." She answered throwing a spinning kick out.

"That's fair." Kyle admitted catching her foot and pushing her off balance. "You still can't beat me." He said from behind her holding the "borrowed" chakram to her neck.

"Not yet." She corrected as he let her up. "You lot get back to your stations!" She shouted to the group of confused criminals.

With that said she motioned for Kyle to follow her and led him into the camp.

They walked into one of the larger tents and sat around an old wooden table.

"It's been a while Kyle why'd you stop by?" Vernal asked grabbing a beer.

"Oh, you know I just wanted to catch up." Kyle said looking at her choice of drink. "Still drinking the cheap stuff I see."

"Yes I am, but what's the real reason you're here? You've always been the whimsical type, so something made you think of stopping by." She said narrowing her eyes.

"Alright you got me." He said holding his hands up in surrender. "I did come to catch up, but I also came to let you know that Sienna sends her regards." He said somberly.

"Sienna… done in by you?" Vernal asked after a moment.

"Actually no… she was my target, but she was taken out by another member of the Fang before I could do it." He said pulling out his scroll.

"I see…" She said after watching the video. "Even if her time was up of course she died to one of those mutinous members of her organization." She said with a scowl. "That would never happen in the tribe."

"The tribe is run by the strongest, so while it wasn't an honorable duel or anything he was stronger than her." Kyle said.

"I know… but still… that was a cowardly way to do it." She said downing the rest of her drink. "I know you were as close to her as I was. It may be cheap, but it is alcohol." She offered taking out another drink.

"Sure why not." Kyle said with a sigh. "Not every day you lose a family member." He said before raising his drink. "To our fallen sister."

"She wasn't physically strong, but she was our rock when we needed it." Vernal added toasting with him.

Suddenly the flap of the tent was pushed to the side. "Vernal! What is it I hear about an intruder in the camp?" A voice called out as a woman in red armor and a katana walked in.

"Did you make up with her yet?" Vernal asked worried to Kyle who just looked to the side.

"Slipped my mind, and it isn't like a simple sorry will cut it." He said as the red-clad woman noticed him.

"You!" She shouted stabbing her sword into the part of the chair next to his neck. "Give me a good reason not to kill you right where you sit." She growled.

He looked lazily towards the sword next to him. "I don't know Vernal would be sad?" He offered looking to the girl who rolled her eyes.

Raven was not amused and moved to bring his head off.

"Or maybe because your niece would be heartbroken that her dear auntie killed me." He said narrowing his eyes.

At this Raven froze. "How do you know Ruby?" She asked in a cold tone. Despite her absence Raven did keep tabs on her old family.

"You could say that I'm her mentor. She's been staying with me ever since she found me after running away from home." He answered looking into the woman's eyes.

"Why would she be with you!?" Raven yelled.

"Because she had nowhere else to go, and I decided to honor a promise I made!" Kyle yelled back.

"What kind of promise could you have made!? After everything you did she shouldn't be anywhere near the likes of you!" Raven yelled again her arms shaking now.

"You're right she shouldn't! And she would've never known me if she hadn't run away! And my promise was to make up for the sins of that day." He said quieter.

"You can't just make it up and pretend it never happened!" Raven shouted.

"I know that, but when I saw her in the alley that night it was either leave her to die in the city or take her in, so I made my choice." He said narrowing his eyes.

Raven opened her mouth but didn't say anything else for a few moments. "This doesn't change anything between us. My brother dimwitted as he is won't just accept this either." She said standing up. "Stay away from the tribe, and don't stick your nose into my old family." She said turning to the exit. "If you're as important to her as you say then you better not mess this up, or I will come after you and kill you myself." She finished before leaving.

"Duly noted." Kyle said with a sigh before looking to Vernal who just shook her head. "That probably could've been handled better." She said.

"I know it probably could have." He agreed. "If I know her then she'll probably contact her brother which means this is going to get much more annoying."

"It's the choice you made." Vernal said with a shrug.

"Helpful aren't you." Kyle deadpanned. "Anyways Roman says hi from his cell on one of Atlas's battleships."

"How'd he manage to land himself in there?" Vernal asked curiously.

Over the better part of an hour Kyle told Vernal about what they had been up to including Neo and Ruby.

"He's really landed himself in a hole." Vernal muttered. "That's what happens when you get greedy." She said shaking her head.

"True, but it was also the join or die line." Kyle added before standing up. "I think I've stayed long enough. We do need to do this again. Hopefully next time Roman can be here in person rather than spirit."

"Sure but I wouldn't recommend you both coming here with Raven still mad at you." Vernal said with a laugh.

"You're right I don't really want to face an angry maiden." Kyle said enjoying the way Vernal froze.

"What're you talking about?" She asked.

"You know what I'm talking about. Most people's eyes don't start glowing when they're angry like she was earlier. That and her aura felt different from the last time I saw her." He added.

"If you'd be so kind we would appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about this. Especially since you're working at Beacon now." She said.

"You act like I'm one of Ozpin's followers or something." He said with a chuckle. "The information I gather I use for my own needs, and Roman's and the kids if need be." He added.

"Alright." Vernal said standing and giving him a hug. "Do give better warning next time we both know you have a scroll." She said as he walked to the entrance of the tent.

"Yeah yeah." He said walking out. After he had left the camp he started heading back towards Beacon.

 _With Ruby_

Today had been a bit of a headache to say the least with Neo now being watched like a hawk, and the fact that Kyle still wasn't back. On the Brightside she did get called to fight someone in their combat class that she had been wanting to fight for a long time.

Across from the red reaper stood the invincible girl with a smile on her face.

Ruby just returned the smile as Glynda went down the rules of the match that they had heard a thousand times already.

"Don't hold back." Ruby called out.

"I won't." Pyrrha said getting into her fighting stance.

Neo was watching the two with interest from where her team was seated. She was really getting tired of the looks that Ruby's team had been giving her. Cinder already lectured her when she found out she had been recognized.

With the stating buzzer sounding Ruby drew her sweetheart and crouched lower bringing the weapon across her back.

Pyrrha eyed her waiting for her to make the first move. Suddenly Ruby was in front of her swinging Crescent Rose around.

Pyrrha raised her shield to block and took a step back at the force of the strike. 'This might be fun.' She thought before pushing the scythe away and swinging Milo in its sword form at her opponent.

Ruby spun around blocking the sword with Crescent's shaft, and continuing her spin kicked out at the champion.

Pyrrha jumped back with the kick and changed Milo into its rifle form shooting towards the other girl.

Ruby blocked the shots between her spinning before planting the scythe into the ground and taking her own shots at the champion who blocked with her shield.

Pulling the scythe out of the ground she rested the weapon on her shoulder. "Not bad Pyrrha, but you won't beat me by just playing defensively." She said.

"I won't be goaded into just recklessly attacking you, but nice try." Pyrrha said with a smile.

"I wasn't trying to goad you into anything I was just making a statement." Ruby said before getting back into her initial stance with the scythe across her back.

In an instant Ruby had disappeared and swung upright catching the champion in the back knocking her up. With a grin Ruby hooked her scythe across the top of the champion's body and pulled the trigger shooting her scythe down onto the girl bringing her down onto the ground with a sizable chunk of aura missing.

Pyrrha would've been in more trouble if she didn't block the follow-up attack with her shield.

When she hit the ground, she rolled away and landed in a crouch.

Ruby just went after her again slashing at the girl's head only for Pyrrha to barely dodge the attack.

'That felt off… is she already using her semblance?' Ruby asked herself.

Pyrrha's knowing smile was all the proof the cloaked girl needed. 'Well if that's how you want to play it.' She thought before disappearing again and jumping into the air in a heavy downward strike.

Pyrrha saw the girl's shadow and dodged again before striking at the her. Ruby jumped away from her weapon which was currently embedded in the floor, and internally smiled at Pyrrha's smile. 'She think's she's won.'

'Without Crescent Rose all she has is those swords. They don't pack nearly as much power, and Ruby isn't a swordswoman.' Pyrrha thought with a smile.

Ruby knew she would respond like this, but unfortunately for the champion Ruby had a bit of a surprise in store for her. Pulling out Mercy she took the blades apart and started running forward without her semblance this time.

'A straightforward attack? What could she hope to gain from that?' Pyrrha thought before bringing up her shield and running towards the hooded girl.

Ruby dashed forward lunging with Mercy only for the attack to be blocked by Pyrrha's shield. Seeing an opening Pyrrha stabbed forward, but Ruby jumped onto Pyrrha's shield and held onto it to avoid the attack.

After the moment of confusion passed Pyrrha saw Ruby jump off the shield like a springboard and disappear in a cloud of petals.

Pyrrha was suddenly very aware of the vortex of petals she was surrounded in. She also noticed it seeming to coil getting closer and closer to her.

She then felt a searing pain in her side briefly seeing Ruby before she disappeared into the vortex again.

Neo smiled from where she was. 'Ruby loves this one.' She thought with an amused smile.

Pyrrha quickly decided that she needed to get out of this vortex, but when she ran to one side she had to block a passing attack with her shield.

With an idea forming she threw her shield into the line of the vortex, but this is what Ruby had been waiting for as she dodged the shield and appeared in front of the champion already swinging at her.

Pyrrha blocked a few of the attacks with her sword but couldn't seem to affect the movement of Ruby's blades. 'Why isn't my semblance affecting her swords? They are metal right?' She asked herself.

With Ruby's attacks getting faster and faster coupled with the fact that petals were still flying around the room obscuring her vision Pyrrha had completely lost her bearings. She didn't know where Akouo had landed, and she could feel her aura rapidly falling.

All of a sudden the buzzer sounded.

"Ruby Rose is the winner of this match." Glynda called out looking slightly shocked herself.

Pyrrha looked towards the screen showing her aura had dipped into the red while Ruby's was still in the yellow around half. Ruby suddenly appeared holding the other girl's shield with a smile on her face. Ruby handed Pyrrha her shield and went to collect her sweetheart.

After smiling at the other girl Ruby went into the locker rooms to get changed, and when she got in there Pyrrha walked up to her.

"How did that happen?" She asked.

"How did what happen?" Ruby asked.

"How were your swords not affected by my polarity?"

"I never did tell anyone much about these." Ruby said putting the blades back together. "These are made of siderite." Ruby said getting a blank stare from the champion.

"I don't know much about it either only what Kyle told me when he gave these to me, but I do happen to know that it doesn't have any magnetic forces for your semblance to use." She finished.

Pyrrha just looked at her before laughing. "Well thank you for that." She said. "I haven't had a good match like that in years especially one where I lost."

"No one needs to be put on a pedestal like you were it's just lonely there." Ruby said before walking out of the locker room only to be greeted by her happy teammates congratulating her on "The coolest thing EVER!" (I give you three guesses as to which one said that, and the first two don't count.)

Pyrrha just smiled and finished changing.

 **A/N: Here's this thing.**

 **Congrats to the two of you who figured out the fourth member of Kyle and Roman's little group was Vernal. A lot of people guessed the mothers, and like one person said age and timeline wise that'd make zero sense. Amber wasn't one I was expecting, but no. Finally, someone said Cinder. No she would already know all about Kyle and Roman if that were the case.**

 **Umm I can't think of anything else really important to say, so I guess that's it.**

 **Like always Follow, Favorite, Review, and whatever else you all do.**

 **~Laz Out.**


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY**

Chapter 21

 _With Kyle_

"There it is home sweet home." He mumbled sarcastically as he approached Beacon. 'With how this day started I have a feeling it's only going to get worse.' He thought as he walked back.

It was quiet for the most part during his walk. A few Grimm here and there, but nothing to really worry about.

'I lost my cool earlier.' He chided himself. 'But then again I guess it makes sense that's a touchy subject for all of us whether they realize it or not. I just hope the old bird doesn't make a scene when he finds out.'

With that thought in mind he sighed and sped up his pace. 'Best case scenario is only Glynda's mad that I missed classes otherwise this'll be far too interesting a day.'

When he reached the borders of the school he slowed his pace back to a walk and entered the grounds. 'It looks like most classes are over for the day.' He thought looking around. 'Ruby running around with Neo check. Ruby's team watching them check. Neo's team also watching them check. Everything seems normal.' He thought before hearing a voice and sighing.

"YOU!" Came a shout from behind the reaper drawing the attention of those in the courtyard.

When he turned around he quickly jumped away from the sword attempting to decapitate him. "Qrow good to see you too." Kyle said looking around finding most of the courtyard watching him and the drunkard. "What can I do for you?"

"I just got a call from my sister of all people and she told me some very interesting things." He said narrowing his eyes and tensing.

"Is that so? I did see her earlier today, so I'm not surprised." The reaper said.

"How dare you! After what you did to my wife now you're meddling in the life of my daughter!" Qrow yelled out as he dashed forward attacking again.

Within a second Kyle had his scythe deployed blocking the attack and keeping them in a gridlock. Looking towards Ruby he saw her put together what was just said. He then looked towards the drunken bird. "You just spilled a lot of information to ears I don't think they were meant for." He said calmly.

"What's he talking about?" Ruby asked from behind the two making Qrow realize that she was right there.

"Ruby…" He started, looking at her for the first time in years. "I'm talking about how this bastard killed Summer." He said with a growl.

"I knew today would be a pain." He mumbled before looking to Neo. "Neo get her somewhere safe I don't know what she'll do."

Neo nodded and approached Ruby who told her to wait. "Is he telling the truth? Did you really kill my mom?" She asked tearing up.

"I'll tell you what happened later, but in short yes she is dead because of me." He said before nodding to Neo who grabbed Ruby and disappeared.

With a sigh Kyle refocused on the man in front of him. "Family is a tricky thing isn't it?" He asked.

"I don't see what a monster like you would know about family." Qrow spat.

"Unfortunately, I know plenty, but that's not a bad thing." He said with a smile before pushing Qrow away and resting the scythe on his shoulder. "I have no qualms with killing you, but I'd imagine others here wouldn't want me to do that, so for now that's enough." He said putting his scythe away as Ozpin walked up with Glynda.

"Qrow would you please come up to my office, so we can speak?" He asked not giving the other man a chance to say no.

"You have a lot of explaining to do Oz, and you don't go anywhere near my daughter or the rest of my family." He finished pointing at the reaper.

"I knew today would be a headache." Kyle said looking to the sky.

"You bastard!" Screamed a pissed off Yang. The hatred had been growing since all those years ago, but she had been told to hold her tongue. Then when she finally found her sister she just couldn't put her through that.

'Here we go again.' He thought lazily looking at the brawler who was close to tears.

"Why did you take her from us like that? She was the glue that held our family together! You're the one who caused all of this stuff with Ruby!" She yelled her eyes red with anger and tears streaming down her face.

Glynda who had been walking towards the two was about to intervene, but Kyle's next comment made everyone pause.

"Why indeed. It was never my intention to kill her that day, but in the end, she died because of me." He said before walking away. "I'm off to find your sister. She can decide to forgive or not."

Yang wanted to stop him, but she couldn't seem to move from where she was standing. Glynda was in the same predicament. 'Just what happened?' She wondered.

Kyle had a pretty good idea of where Neo took them, so he headed to the roof of their dorms.

 _With Ruby and Neo_

Ruby had been silent ever since they teleported, and it was worrying to the ice cream girl to say the least. Ruby was lost in thought trying to figure out how this happened, and what she should do. The cause of her biggest problems in her short life was the one who had looked out for her when everything came crashing down.

"Neo…" She finally spoke up. "What should I do?" She asked with pleading eyes.

Neo's heart clenched at the sight of her lover looking like this. "I'm not sure… I'd probably at least hear him out before doing something." She signed slowly. Truly she didn't know what the other girl was feeling she was an orphan who never knew her parents, so she didn't know what it was like to lose that connection.

"But if he was telling the truth then why didn't he tell me about it sooner?" Ruby asked some of her sadness turning into anger as she hit the roof with her fist.

"How do you tell a child that you're the reason for all their problems in life?" Came the reaper's familiar voice from behind the two.

Ruby and Neo quickly turned to see the reaper walking to the edge of the roof and sitting with his feet hanging off the ledge. After a moment he looked back and patted the spot next to him.

After hesitating for a moment Ruby walked over and sat next to him.

"We have a lot to talk about." He said looking out at the now setting sun. "Go ahead ask whatever questions you have I'll answer them as best I can then you decide what you want to do."

"Is it true you killed my mother?" She asked quietly.

"Starting with the big guns huh. Summer Rose and I had a bit of a history before her passing, but yes it was because of my actions that she died." He said.

"You keep saying that, but what do you mean tell me what happened." She said.

"Ruby how did your family tell you your mother died?" He asked before beginning his tale.

"They said she was on a mission hunting an ancient Grimm, and she never came back." Ruby answered.

"I see, so you don't remember, and they never told you what really happened." He said before sighing. "Let me tell you about the day your mother died."

 _Flashback_

" _Let's see he should be somewhere around here." Kyle said walking through the woods. As was the story of his life he was hunting once again for his target. This specific target was known for taking strolls in this area at night for whatever reason._

 _Wandering through the woods he was getting bored of this assignment already._

' _As much as I love traveling why does he have to live here it's so cold.' He thought to Roman who was off somewhere else probably inside enjoying his partner's suffering._

' _It could've been worse. He could live in Atlas. At least Patch isn't that cold.' Roman thought back. Kyle could feel the smirk on his partner's face._

' _Whatever the sooner I finish this the sooner I get to warm up.' He thought before stopping and hiding behind a nearby tree. He could hear a faint whistling from up ahead._

' _Is this him?' He asked himself looking around the trunk of the tree. He couldn't see anyone, and the whistling was growing fainter. 'Must be walking away from here I need to catch up and see if it's the target, but if they know I'm here they might run meaning a much longer night.' He thought before making his way towards the sound. When he got closer he found his target at a fork in the trail._

 _He would've loved to just go and kill said target, but a figure was approaching from the left which was, unfortunately, the side the target decided to take, and the last thing he needed was a witness._

" _He's right there, no need to rush this." He mumbled walking after his target. The target had just passed by the other figure. Through the moonlight he could make out a little more about the person he was walking towards. Specifically, a white… cloak… 'Oh you have got to be kidding me there's no way that's her right? And what's she holding?' He asked himself keeping his head down as he passed the all too familiar white cloak._

 _Summer had been having a nice evening out with her little rose, who had fallen asleep earlier meaning she had to carry her again not that she minded. She was somewhat surprised to find people walking around out here at this time of night especially since Grimm are more active at night._

' _First was one of the shopkeepers from town who had always been a bit of an ass to deal with when making a purchase, but he was polite tonight. Then was the shorter person in a black cloak. They seemed kind of tense when we passed by. I wonder… why…?' She asked herself before quickly looking behind her and seeing an outline she really didn't want to see. The outline of a scythe._

" _No!" She shouted tapping into her semblance. In a moment she blinked between the two._

 _Kyle was mid-slash when he heard it then before his eyes materialized a white cloak. In the next second a few different things happened. He finished his motion knocking the woman in front of him forward greatly weakening her aura, the child the woman was holding woke up and screamed at the movement, and the target figured out what was happening and started running away._

" _You have got to be kidding me!" Why do you always do this?!" He yelled as he started rushing after his target only for her to pull him back by his cloak._

 _He knew he couldn't let his target get away, so before she completely pulled him back he did the only thing he could think of. He threw his scythe. Unfortunately, his aim wasn't true, and the scythe hit a tree the man had just run past._

" _I won't just stand by and let you kill someone!" She shouted still clutching his cloak._

" _And I'm not willing to give up our lives for someone else's!" He shouted before freezing._

 _Summer froze too and momentarily loosened her grip freeing the young reaper. Little Ruby didn't know what was going on, but she was crying because of all the yelling. Kyle ran and went to retrieve his scythe then went after his target. He didn't get very far before he heard a scream from behind him. Despite telling himself to ignore it he found himself running back towards the downed woman to find her trying to fend off some beowolves and calm her crying child behind her._

' _If the kid keeps this up she'll attract the whole forest to us.' He thought running forward. That's when he saw it. One of the wolves had clamored up a tree and was about to pounce on the two._

 _He didn't have time to say anything before it happened. The wolf hit her, and her aura gave. Then it bit her side causing her to scream out in pain._

 _Once he finally reached the two he killed the beowolf that had bitten her ignoring a glancing hit from one of the others. After he killed the one he went and started killing the others. Meanwhile Summer was holding her daughter close trying to comfort her._

" _It's alright my little rose it's alright." She kept repeating but it wasn't working. Then she went for the one thing she knew would work and started singing._

" _Hush your cries_

 _Close your eyes_

 _Stay with me_

 _Let's just dream_

 _Quietly_

 _Of what might be_

 _Calm your fear_

 _I'll be near_

 _To you, I'll cling_

 _Rest, my friend_

 _Time can mend_

 _Many things_

 _I don't know the answers_

 _Tomorrow's still unknown_

 _But I can make this promise_

 _You won't be alone_

 _I don't know where we should go_

 _Just feeling farther from our goal_

 _I don't know what path we will be shown_

 _But I know that when I'm with you I'm at home_

 _Yes, I know that when I'm with you I'm at home"_

 _By this point Kyle had finished and was now just stuck in place listening._

" _There's a quiet place_

 _In my embrace_

 _A haven of safety where_

 _I'll dry your tears_

 _Shelter here_

 _In my care_

 _But even when we stumble_

 _And someday when we fall_

 _What I will remember_

 _That I had you through it all_

 _I don't know where we should go_

 _Just feeling farther from our goal_

 _I don't know what path we will be shown_

 _But I know that when I'm with you I'm at home_

 _Yes, I know that when I'm with you I'm at home_

…

 _Yes, I know that when I'm with you I'm at home"_

 _By the end of her song Ruby had fallen asleep in her mother's arms and Kyle felt a tear run down his cheek that he quickly wiped away. After smiling to her daughter, she looked up to the reaper._

" _I know it's a lot to ask… but could you… get her home for me?" She asked weakly before telling him where she lives._

 _It was then that he noticed how bad the wound was. "You're barely holding on… and here you are comforting… I'm assuming this is your daughter." He said laughing weakly. "Why?" He asked. "Why do you always try to stop me, but never report anything about me?"_

" _You're still just a child… I don't know your situation… but sending huntsmen teams after you… probably wouldn't help anyone." She said with a soft smile._

" _Summer Rose… you're probably the kindest person I've ever met and look what's happened." He said looking at her._

" _If I could go back I wouldn't have changed anything." Summer said with a soft smile. "Well… I might've brought my weapon with me. Then I wouldn't… have to leave her so soon…" She said finally tearing up._

 _He sighed wiping some more tears of his own away. "This wasn't how tonight was supposed to go, and what's worse it looks like I'm still human." He said looking to the dark sky._

" _No matter… how hard you try… you still have your soul… that means you're human… feelings and all just darker morals." She said laughing lightly and wincing in pain._

" _I suppose you're right." He said bending down towards the two of them. "Don't die on me yet. I've tried harder than this to kill you in the past." He finished gently picking the two of them up._

" _There's… no point in carrying me too… I won't make it back…"_

" _No you won't… but it's better to die holding your daughter than alone in the woods."_

" _You're right… I won't be able… to see this through… so whatever happens… please protect her…" Summer requested quietly._

" _What's her name?" He asked looking to the girl bundled in a red cloak._

" _Ruby… Ruby Rose." She answered._

" _It's a nice name." He said quietly as she closed her eyes. "I promise."_

 _He walked down the path in silence slowly making his way towards the place she had mentioned, and eventually made it. He stopped at the porch and sat them down gently. Summer hadn't opened her eyes since answering his last question. He thought about leaving a note, but didn't have anything, and he didn't want to damage her cloak anymore than it already was, so he knocked on the door careful to not wake the young sleeping girl. Before leaving he knelt down towards the two. "It'd be best if you didn't remember this night… this isn't a burden you need to shoulder so young." He said before hearing someone else approaching the door and running off._

 _Flashback end_

"That's what happened." Kyle finished quietly laughing at himself. Every time he remembers that day he can't help but shed a tear. "My only accidental kill."

Ruby just sat there listening unsure of what to say. As he told his story she started to remember bits and pieces of that night. They had gone out to watch the sunset from her mom's favorite spot. A nice area at the top of a cliff.

Neo just had a thoughtful look on her face as she looked between the two.

Kyle looked over and saw Ruby lost in thought. "I learned a lot about myself that day." He said pausing briefly. "I learned that I wasn't fast enough. I learned that I wasn't experienced enough. I learned that I was lucky that it was Summer trying to stop me all those times." He finished gaining their curiosity.

"Why do you say that?" Neo asked.

"I wasn't fast enough or experienced enough to finish that job like it needed to be done. If I was faster, I might've made the kill before she interfered, or I might've made it back to the two of you quicker. My inexperience and immaturity made me lose my cool and say something I shouldn't have. Finally, I was lucky she was the one after me because of all the hunters and huntresses I've faced she was one of the few who didn't want to kill me, but rather stop me."

A silence dominated the group for a few minutes after he said that. The others just digesting all of what they had just heard.

Looking back to his protégé again he spoke up. "You don't have to decide right now, but you have a choice. You can stay here become a huntress or whatever you and Neo want to do, and forget about the reapers, or stay the course." He said standing up and starting to walk away.

"No." She said making the reaper and Neo look at her. "I won't stop on this path… I've been thinking of how long we've been together. You wanted to keep your promise, but the only other one who knew of it was my mom, yet you kept it anyways... Despite your uncaring attitude you really care about me, don't you?" She asked making him sigh.

"You got me yeah I do. That night you found me I didn't know what to do you were still wearing that same exact cloak, and I just couldn't say no. Next thing I know here we are." He says gesturing around him.

Ruby giggled slightly at that. "I… don't know how to feel about what happened that night. I know why you do what you do and that she is the one who jumped in front of the attack, but there's just a nagging sadness at the back of my mind."

"That's alright there's no way you don't have conflicting feelings about this." Kyle said.

"I know this is a little random, but have you ever lied to me?" Ruby asked.

Kyle thought for a moment before shrugging. "Probably, but I doubt it was anything big."

"So, nothing about any of this was a lie?" She asked again.

"No that's what I remember happening." He said.

"How'd my family find out the truth?" She asked.

"Unfortunately, I didn't immediately catch that target, and he spread around that I attacked Summer, or maybe that I attacked him, and Summer saved him. I don't exactly remember the story, but it got back to your family pretty quick, and I guess they didn't want to tell you about it."

"I see… did Yang know?" Ruby asked.

"I'm not really sure, but she was older than you, so she might've caught wind of it."

Ruby nodded and just looked down. "My entire family lied to me about her. When I asked where she was they said she was on a mission." She said balling up her fists with tears streaming down her cheeks.

She was quickly enveloped in two sets of arms hugging her.

"It's not something that's easy to tell you when they don't know all the details themselves." Kyle offered.

"You're right, but that doesn't mean they needed to lie to me! It's bad enough she disappeared, but I kept believing she'd be back! I waited for months each day hoping it'd be the day she came home." She said openly crying now. "Hoping that she would be there in the morning cooking breakfast. Hoping she'd be there to sing to me when I had a nightmare. Hoping she would be there to tell me everything will be alright…"

"Just let it all out." He said calmly.

 _With Ozpin, Qrow, and Glynda_

"Why the fuck did you not tell me that not only my long-lost daughter is here, but also that bastard is here with her?!" Qrow yelled at Ozpin.

"I know what happened between Summer and the reaper you were the one to report it after all, and when Ruby turned up in Vale I almost called you immediately, but when I talked to her she specifically said to not tell her family about any of this. Then when I learned of his involvement I knew my hands were tied. Breaking her trust by telling you means breaking any possible trust with the reaper as well meaning he could be out on the hunt that much more." Ozpin said.

Qrow thought about his answer. 'Why wouldn't she want to tell us?' "But Oz he hasn't stopped his hunting at all you know as well as I do those White Fang raids were him." He said.

"I know they were him." Ozpin admitted. "And you're right he hasn't slowed much, but at least here he can help our students and we know where he is for a majority of the day." Ozpin admitted.

"Why not limit him to the school grounds then?" Qrow asked.

"It was part of the deal we made that he could go into Vale whenever he wanted. If we didn't make the deal, then Ruby wouldn't have come to beacon and they would've disappeared again."

"How exactly does my daughter being with the reaper make any sense?" Qrow asked getting annoyed at this conversation.

"I'm not the one you should be asking that, but from what I've been told he's the one who took her in when she ran away all those years ago." He answered. "And it shows." He said after a pause mentally wincing at Qrow's scowl.

"What do you mean exactly?" He asked as calmly as he could.

"Do you wish to know how we stumbled across her? She didn't exactly send an application in." He said pulling up the file of Ruby stopping the dust robbery.

Qrow didn't like where this was going, but he watched the video nonetheless. When it was over he was speechless. "… how… how could someone as sweet as her do something like… that?"

"This is another reason I didn't call you. She isn't the Ruby your family remembers, and despite Ms. Xiao Long's best efforts she isn't changing anytime soon." He said looking to one of his oldest friends.

"I need to go talk to her where's her dorm?" Qrow asked starting to walk out.

"I don't think she'll be there right now, but I'll tell you anyways." Ozpin said before telling him where it was.

When he left the office Qrow thought about what Oz had told him and decided to try looking around first before going to her room, so when he got outside and saw no one around he turned into a crow and started looking around.

 _With Kyle, Ruby, and Neo_

Ruby had started to calm down after her little breakdown and seemed a bit better, so they stopped the group hug. When Kyle looked around he saw a bird heading towards them. 'I don't think birds fly at night.' He thought to himself unamused. 'Hey Roman can you think of any birds that fly at night?'

'… I shouldn't be surprised, but I am what the fuck are you doing looking for birds?'

'Hey it was just a question.' He thought back before chuckling a bit drawing Ruby and Neo's attention. He turned and looked to the two. "I've just confirmed that Roman isn't a bird expert." He said as if that explained anything.

Meanwhile Qrow was looking at them and was understandably mad at what he was seeing, but it wouldn't do for him to show that he can turn into a bird, so he went to her dorm. He'd wait to talk to her and see what happened to his little girl, and he needed to have a little talk with his niece as well.

'What a peculiar bird.' The reaper thought before looking back to his and Roman's prodigies.

Ruby was still sad, but she also looked somewhat happy, and despite how well he knew her Kyle couldn't figure out why, but oh well.

She then looked towards Kyle. Neo was looking at him as well. "Can you tell me a bit about my mom?" Ruby asked receiving a blank look from the reaper.

"Why would you ask me that of all people?" He asked.

"Well da-." She started before pausing. "Wait Uncle Qrow said that Summer was his… and he had a da…" She mumbled to herself even more confused.

"I don't know the story on that one. That's a question for the old bird." Kyle said before she shook her head clearing it as best she could. That was one headache she didn't want to try comprehending right now.

"Right… I guess I'll have to talk to him about that later. He's in even deeper shit now." She mumbled the last part darkly making Kyle hide a smile and Neo doing her silent giggle. "Anyways my… family never liked to talk about her when I asked, so all I was left with was my memories of her." Ruby admitted.

"Hmm well I don't think my opinions of her will match up with your memories very well, but I can tell you about a few of our… meetings." He said with a grin and sitting back down.

 _RWBY Dorm_

 _With Yang, Weiss, and Blake_

"Would you quit your pacing!" Weiss shouted to the blonde.

"I can't! I don't know what to think about this thing anymore. Ruby still isn't back. Apparently if what Uncle Qrow said then she was never my sister in the first place, and now he knows that she's here and I knew about it. That's not even beginning on the stuff about Summer." Yang listed running her hands through her hair.

"If you just calm down then I'm sure it'll all start to make sense just take a few deep breaths." Weiss said.

Yang started taking deep breaths then jumped when someone knocked on the door.

Looking between the panicking blonde and the comfortable heiress Blake realized she had to get the door. When she opened it, she found the man who had attacked the reaper in the courtyard. "Yang it's for you." She said walking back to her bunk and pretending to read.

Yang nervously looked over. "Heya Uncle Qrow."

"Hey firecracker, we need to have a little talk." He said making Weiss stand up.

"If you want to talk to her then you can do it here. She's in enough emotional distress as it is, and if it is about Ruby and Yang then we should hear it too as their teammates and partners." She said.

"You're a Schnee aren't you. Sorry Ice Queen this little chat doesn't have to do with either of you it's a family matter." He said glaring at Weiss.

Weiss despite the glare didn't back down. "They can hear this." Yang said quietly stopping whatever retort Weiss had been making.

Qrow sighed and took another drink from his flask. "Alright fine, but we need to talk about this and finish it before Ruby gets back so I can focus on her when the time comes." Qrow said.

"Alright what do you want to talk about?" Yang asked sitting down on Blake's bunk who had sat up and put the book away.

"Why didn't you tell Tai or I that Ruby was here? You know how worried we had all been." He demanded.

"She didn't want you all to know, and I had just gotten my baby sister back. I didn't want to lose her again by breaking a promise." Yang answered.

"She was with the reaper! Why wouldn't you tell us regardless of that?!" He asked.

"Because of how close they were! When she finally told us where she had been I knew she'd probably stick with him rather than any of us." She said the last part quieter.

Before he could ask another question Weiss spoke up. "Why do you both hate the reaper so much aside from the mass murderer thing? It takes some getting used to, but he's a pretty good teacher."

"And who was this Summer person?" Blake asked making Qrow look down.

"Summer Rose was Ruby's mother. My wife." He said making Weiss and Blake look between him and Yang. "The reason I hate him so much is because he killed her." He finished.

Yang clenched her fist and looked to the floor.

"I wasn't in town that weekend, so it took me a while to make it back after Tai called. He called me as soon as her body turned up holding a sleeping Ruby. Later he heard that a shop owner was spreading word that the reaper was in Patch, and he killed an innocent woman in white who was trying to protect a young girl. It clicked in that thick head of his what happened, and he explained the situation to me when I arrived. Firecracker here heard about it too, but we all agreed not to tell Ruby about it or mention anything about it since she didn't seem to remember anything from that night. The only reason I didn't start hunting for that bastard immediately is because I didn't have any clues as to where he went. The shop keeper who spread the story was found dead in his shop after someone finally went into the closed store." He explained. "That's why I hate him." He added.

Weiss and Blake were kind of at a loss. They had heard of the things the reaper had done, but after having met him they thought that the rumors might not all be true, yet here they were hearing of another monstrous act against their own leader.

"Ruby didn't know about any of this did she?" Weiss asked receiving two shaking heads. "We can't let things stay like this." She said surprising Qrow somewhat. This girl wasn't anything like her sister. Aside from stubbornness.

Yang smiled at the heiress and looked to Blake who paused for a moment before nodding. "If she knew about this before then she wouldn't be with him now. We are going to fix the mistake your family made." She said causing Yang to look down in shame.

"We still have a leader to save, don't we?" Weiss asked getting nods from the other two girls and an amused look from Qrow.

 **A/N: Hey people it's been a while.**

 **Anyways here's this thing I hope you all enjoyed. There are two sides to every story, and a rift is forming I can't wait to see what will transpire from this.**

 **For any who don't know, which could be most of you, I am in school now, and I don't have as much time or extra drive to write like I did in the Summer, so chapters will be a bit slower I apologize in advance.**

 **Onto more interesting matters what'd you guys think? I've never really written an emotional scene in any of these stories, so how'd I do? Yes the song is called "Home" from the volume 4 soundtrack.**

 **Umm I don't think I had any reviews to address you all know what's happening by this point.**

 **Follow, Favorite, Review, and whatever else you all do.**

 **~Laz Out.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY**

Chapter 22

 _With Ruby, Neo, and Kyle_

"… and that's how we first met. What a nightmare that job was." Kyle said remembering his younger days.

Ruby and Neo were both listening with interest to the story. While it was good to see her somewhat cheery again it was annoying the reaper with how fake her smile was, and that strange feeling he had been feeling through the mark was growing as time passed. 'That feeling is familiar… but when was the last time she felt it?' He thought to himself closing his eyes in thought for a few moments before they snapped back open.

"Ruby." He said shortly. He hadn't felt that feeling from her since her first kill.

Looking towards the reaper she tilted her head to the side. "Hmm?"

"Look me in the eyes and tell me what's still bothering you." He said leveling his gaze at her.

"Umm I don't know what you're talking about." She said sheepishly trying not to make eye-contact.

"Ruby. Now."

She hesitantly met his gaze. Silver staring into crimson. "I… I…"

"You feel guilty about what happened don't you." He stated rather than asked.

"Yes." She said quietly looking down.

"Why would you feel guilty about that at all?" He asked genuinely confused.

"… I just can't help it… if it wasn't for me, we never would've gone out that night I begged her to take me to watch the sunset. I'm the reason we went out that night, and then that happened... Memories of that day have been coming back ever since you told us what happened, and I can't help but feel like it's all my fault." She said hitting her fist to the roof.

"That doesn't have anything to do with how it turned out-" He started before she cut him off.

"No maybe it doesn't, but the Grimm do have something to do with it, and they were attracted to me! I was the one who felt scared and was crying. They were drawn in by my own emotions! My mom wouldn't have been scared. You wouldn't have been scared you said it yourself you were angry, and you and the other guy who _was_ scared were off in a different direction!" She screamed out getting louder with each passing second.

"We all attracted the Grimm they're drawn to any negative emotion!" Kyle yelled making her stop whatever she was about to add. "And those emotions don't immediately disappear when someone leaves an area, they linger Ruby. That guy was scared, I was angry, but I was also scared. No one wants to be out in the woods at night with Grimm on the prowl. Summer was scared too that I can assure you."

Ruby was about to protest, but he cut her off again. "She was scared, but not for herself, and not just for you. She was scared for all of us. The target and even me. I couldn't place it back then, but the look in her eyes was that of fear. She wasn't afraid of me… she was afraid of what might happen to me… to all of us." He said quietly before looking back into her teary eyes. "You want to blame yourself for the Grimm, but the blame isn't yours it's mine. I'm the one who instigated the fear. I'm the one who was out hunting! I'm the one your mother got hurt to stop which is what made you cry! I'm the one who lost control of my own emotions… so I'm the only person that you can blame." He finished quietly.

"B-but its just not fair!" She yelled her fists balled up and shaking. "When I heard that you caused her death, I wanted so badly to be mad at you. I wanted to hate you for taking away my mother, my family, my childhood, but I just can't… and the worst part about it…" She started with a dry laugh. "is that I don't even know why. I don't know why I can't hate you, and it's so frustrating. Since I couldn't seem to hate you, I let my anger and grief go towards another person there that night… myself. Pathetic isn't it?"

Neo hugged the other girl who just looked… defeated.

"The only person to be mad at is me. No point in beating yourself up over something that was my fault, but in your situation I'm not really sure." He said laying back and looking up to the shattered moon.

"I know… I'm just emotionally exhausted. My whole world was turned upside down in the span of hours, and that's not even including Unc- damnit not even including Qrow." She said looking at the reaper's prone body and laying back too taking Neo with her.

"Trust me I know the feeling." Kyle said receiving a glare from the redhead.

"Have you ever had to find out that your mentor and idol was the reason your mother died, and your family ostracized you?" She bit back sarcastically.

"Ha ha I guess not that specific situation no. The closest I've gotten recently is today revisiting some of my own demons from the past, and that last contract I had to finish. Those two together left me a little worn out." He admitted.

"What was so special about your contract that you'd be emotionally exhausted?" Ruby asked with genuine curiosity.

"I've never told you about my own past have I?"

"Nothing that didn't have to do with being a reaper no. We never discussed our respective pasts much." She replied, but now that she thought about it, he knew quite a bit more about her past than he had let on.

"Well I don't really want to delve into any of that tonight… let's just say that contract hit close to home." He said leaving the other girls even more curious. Before they could ask any more questions, he sat up. "Well as much as I've loved this blast to the past, I think it's time for all of us to turn in for the night. To our own rooms." He added seeing the duo look down saddened. "Neo you don't have anything specifically to do, but Ruby here needs to face what's waiting for her." Looking to the mini-reaper he sighed. "As exhausting as this night has been you know it's best to get this talk with the old bird over with sooner rather than later."

"I know I know, and he's probably at my dorm waiting for me." She said looking down. "Could you guys come with me? I have a feeling I'm going to be severely outnumbered when I go down there."

Neo nodded an affirmative, but Kyle just frowned and thought it over. "If I go it'll only cause problems." Ruby looked at him with those damn puppy eyes of hers. "…but… I guess it'll be alright if they don't know I'm there." He said begrudgingly.

"Works every time." She whispered to Neo who laughed her silent laugh.

"I heard that."

"You were supposed to." She said seemingly happier than she had been for the past hour or so.

"Cheeky little brat aren't you." Kyle said getting a smirk from his protégé.

"I learned from the best."

"Oh you wound me." He said mock hurt.

After a moment of laughter, the three settled down. "Alright you guys can be seen and heard, but I can't so I'll just stick outside your room when we get there." The reaper said buttoning up his cloak and putting his hood on. "After you two."

Ruby and Neo nodded, and started heading down the stairs followed by the silent reaper. It still kind of scared Ruby that he could sneak as well as he did. If she didn't already know he was behind them she wouldn't have been able to tell. Apparently, she was too busy thinking about that to realize they had arrived in front of her team's door. Even though Neo and Kyle were both with her she was still nervous.

She knew that her team had separated themselves from her, which she caused, so she wasn't worried about it per se, but with her sister and… wait were they even sisters? 'Ugh that's still too much for me to process right now.' She thought to herself. She was worried about her family and team trying to all gang-up against her but standing and worrying about it won't change anything.

Slowly she took Neo's hand and glanced at Kyle who nodded. With a sigh she adopted a mask of cold indifference and opened the door. The reaper was just going to wait and listen against the wall in case he was needed.

 _With WBY and Qrow_

Awkward couldn't even begin to describe the atmosphere in the room of team RWBY. Qrow was just leaning back against the desk near the window looking at the door. WBY on the other hand weren't really sure what to do. The heiress was the most conflicted as she watched her blonde teammate pace back and forth while stroking her hair. A nervous tick she had come to pick up on. Yang was completely lost in thought thinking of all the ways this could end. Blake was pretending to read, but couldn't really focus on her book, so she was looking between the other three in the room.

When they heard the door handle turn they all looked and saw Ruby and Neo slowly walk in.

The first thing out of Yang's mouth wasn't anything to do with what they had learned that day, "What's she doing here?" She snarled out.

Ruby just glared at her kind of sister. "She's here because I want her to be here." She said sharply.

Yang looked like she wanted to protest, but Qrow cut her off. "You wanted your team here, so she can have her friend here as well." He said eyeing his niece.

"Fine." Yang muttered quietly while still glaring at the black-haired girl. (You guys didn't think she'd forget her disguise did you?)

Neo just gave a mocking smile before turning back to the matter at hand and giving a slight curtsy to the man in front of them.

Qrow mostly ignored the girl who had come in with his daughter. Right now, he was more focused on looking at Ruby. He didn't pay too much attention to what she had looked like earlier in the day since he was understandably distracted, but now getting a good look at her he was pained to see the carbon-copy of Summer at that age glaring at him. If it weren't for the cloak, he would've thought he was dreaming.

Despite how ready he had been to do this, and how desperate he was to see his daughter again he didn't know what to say to her now that she was here. Should he hug her? Ask her where she's been? Why she left? There were so many questions he wanted to ask, but he just wasn't sure what to say. "Hey." He finally said deciding to see how she would respond.

She gave a rather unimpressed look at his attempt to start this. "After all these years the only thing you have to say is 'hey'?" She asked impassively.

Qrow winced a bit at the response. Where was the little girl who he could read like a book? From this exchange he couldn't see any emotions she might've been feeling. Regaining his composure after a moment he thought over what to say next. "Well no that's not the only thing. I have lots of questions but rushing out of the gate like that wouldn't have been any better."

"I suppose that's fair, so are those questions what you wanted to keep the rest of my team up for?" She asked looking to her teammates who were all watching the exchange.

"I figured you'd be back here eventually, and they seemed pretty awake when I got here anyways." He said calmly. "Where ya been kiddo?"

"Oh you know I decided to explore the world a bit since no one seemed to care what I did." She bit sarcastically with a lingering truth.

"Of course people cared when you up and disappeared. Do you have any idea how worried we were when you left?" Qrow asked his voice rising slightly.

"No not really. If you didn't care about me when I was there why would you care when I left!" She yelled her mask falling momentarily.

'This is not going well at all.' Kyle thought from outside. Neo had a similar thought and squeezed the young reaper's hand in reassurance. Feeling Neo's squeeze the red reaper calmed down a bit and looked at the effect her words had on her "father".

"No that's not what I meant. We never stopped loving you Ruby we just-"

"Just what? Just didn't want to look at or acknowledge me? Didn't want to remember the person we ALL lost when you saw me? Because from where I was standing it didn't look like my family wanted me around anymore." She said looking to the floor. "And that's the part that hurt the most. It wasn't that you all gave me false hope about mom coming back or that you didn't tell me what really happened that day. No, it was that after that day, a day that I didn't even remember, you all stopped seeing me as Ruby part of your family, but just as a reminder of my mom." She finished.

Qrow wanted to hug her and tried to but was stopped with the tip of an umbrella at his throat. Neo was glaring at the man in front of her and was standing in a way to keep him from his daughter. Ruby who saw this made no move to stop her friend and that hurt him more than he was willing to admit.

Hesitantly he backed back to where he had been before and assessed the situation. Pardon his Vacuan, but this shit was spiraling out of control.

"Ruby… you're right. You have every right to be mad at us because we did drift away from you, and that's my biggest regret." He admitted looking down finding the floor very interesting all of a sudden. "I never wanted anything like this to happen, but like you said we all saw Summer in you, and the pain was too much. I know that's not an excuse, but that's how it happened anyways. After all this time I know you don't have any reason to listen to me especially since I never was your father figure-"

"That's putting it lightly." Ruby threw in.

"But you shouldn't be anywhere near the reaper after what he's done." Qrow finished looking back into her eyes with a stern gaze.

"Please enlighten me what has he done that I need to be wary of?" Ruby asked feigning ignorance.

"You know just like we do that he's the one who killed Summer!" Yang yelled suddenly speaking up.

"So you're telling me you knew before this?" Ruby asked.

Yang looked anywhere but at her younger sister. "No, I mean Qrow just said it in front of the school earlier today."

Ruby was disappointed to say the least. Her sister was never very good at lying, which made her wonder just how trusting she was in the past to believe everything the older girl said. Filing that thought away for later she turned her attention back towards Qrow.

"Well then _uncle_ tell me what happened." She said sharply. Despite her sadness on the subject earlier now she was more pissed than anything, and the answers she was getting weren't helping.

"Well like the firecracker said the bastard killed her. He's the one who killed your mother." He said still holding his stern gaze.

"How?" It was a simple question she knew, but this was the part where Qrow hesitated. Summer had both a bite in her side, and a large cut going diagonally across her back when she had been brought back, and the only thing they had to go off of was a merchant's ramblings. While rumors weren't usually trustful it did make sense to the family with the additional wound there, and the fact that the body and Ruby were delivered back. A Grimm wouldn't return a body much less leave one of their prey alive.

"Based on the wounds on her body, and the story circulating in town the next day the pieces just fell into place. We had heard that a black-cloaked figure wearing a mask reminiscent of the reaper's was seen attacking a woman in white who was protecting her child." Qrow said. Despite his feelings on the subject he still had trouble believing that was the whole story, but he couldn't really ask anyone. Out of the two people still alive one was Ruby who hadn't remembered any of it, and the other was an assassin who had been evading huntsmen and authorities alike for years.

"Interesting." Ruby said casually glancing at the faces of her teammates who wouldn't meet her gaze. 'So they've already been told of this. Probably before I came back… this'll be a pain later on.' She thought to herself. "So he was right that's the story you all were told." She said earning looks of confusion from everyone in the room except for Neo who was casually eyeing the others in the room.

 _Outside with Kyle_

So intent on listening to what was happening on the other side of the wall he ironically missed the clicking sound of heels coming down the hall.

"What do you think you're-" Before she could finish Kyle put his hand over Glynda's mouth and motioned to stay quiet while pulling her towards the wall.

"Let go of me." She hissed pulling his hand away. 'What could he possibly be doing outside Ruby's dorm?'

"Stay quiet I'm supposed to step in if she needs help." He said very lowly causing her to look at him in confusion before hearing Qrow's voice.

It was muffled because of the wall, but she could still make out the drunkard's voice.

"What do you mean the story we heard?" Came the old bird's voice.

'What's he doing in there at this time of night!' She thought furiously. It was past curfew, and she wouldn't stand for him keeping students from reaching their academic bests by keeping them awake especially with the Vytal Festival starting in the next few days.

Before she could even start marching towards the door, she felt arms wrap around her waist.

"I know it's past curfew and all, but this is a conversation they need to have now, so tell him off later alright?" He asked quietly.

Ignoring the feeling of heat rushing to her cheeks she gave a barely audible 'hm'.

"You might as well listen with me you could learn something interesting."

Despite being appalled at the idea of listening in on what was probably a private conversation between students and their family members she had to admit she was curious about why Kyle was standing by. Hesitantly she joined him in listening through the wall.

 _Inside the Room_

"Just what I said. That's the story he guessed you had heard." 'Well one of the possibilities.' She added mentally.

"You make it sound like you know something that the rest of us don't." Qrow said evenly still gauging her expressions or rather lack thereof.

"I probably know quite a few things you all don't, but regarding this I know his side of the story. What really happened that night." She said.

"Well then if you think his version is what really happened then why don't you enlighten the rest of us? I'd love to see how he weaseled out of this." Qrow said sarcastically.

Ruby and surprisingly Neo gave him a dark glare, but before he could process it his daughter sighed. "What do you think should we tell them what really happened?" Ruby asked to her ice-cream themed lover.

Before Neo could give a response, Yang spoke up again. "Wait! _She_ already knows?!"

Ruby was really getting tired of Yang being a pain every time Neo was mentioned. She must really be holding what she did to her partner on the train against her. Even if her teammates were suspicious of who Neo really was, they still didn't have proof, and Ruby would do her best to make sure it stays that way. "She was there with me when Kyle told us about it." She said ignoring her sister's hurt look.

Being reminded that she wasn't the one her little sister, biological parents be damned, went to whenever she needed a shoulder to lean or cry on still hurt the brawler.

Looking back at Neo she raised her eyebrow in question. Neo just shrugged before signing out. "I don't really care if they know it's your and Kyle's story to tell since you two were the only ones there."

"You understand sign language?" Weiss asked curious over her partner's literacy in the wordless language.

"Yea Neo taught me." She said absentmindedly deciding if she really wanted to tell this story.

She gave Neo a look before the mute girl nodded. "I've always loved stories, but this one I probably won't enjoy telling." She said mentally preparing herself.

Without further ado she recounted what happened that fateful night.

 _Outside the Room_

Ruby's tale had just finished, albeit some pieces of dialogue were left out, and Glynda didn't know what to make of everything she had heard, so she looked to the man behind her.

"You really didn't mean to kill her?" She asked skeptically.

If her skeptical tone affected him in any way, he didn't show it. "No. She wasn't my target, but she wanted to be a hero for everyone else, and in the end, she succeeded we all made it through that night thanks to her. It's sad isn't it?" He asked more himself than the woman who was still for whatever reason in his arms.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"There's so many stories where some brave hero decides to give their life to save the day, and because of their sacrifice, the survivors all cheer, and everybody lives happily ever after. But the hero… never gets to see that ending. They'll never know if the day was really saved. In the end… they just have to have faith. Ain't that a bitch?" He asked with a far-off look in his eyes. "She'll never know if we both made it back, if her daughter was reunited with her family, if I kept my promise. She just had faith that it'd work out."

Glynda turned towards him and brought his attention back to her. "Maybe that's just the life of the hero. They give their all, and if they fall then they hope beyond hope that everything turns out okay. It's the job of those left alive to not only remember the hero, but to make sure they didn't die for nothing. That's what makes this job hard sometimes." She muttered the last part quietly.

He tightened his grip around her bringing her into a tight hug. "Because of all the huntsmen and huntresses who die fighting the Grimm what have we been able to accomplish by it?" She asked barely above a whisper. It had always bothered her that no matter how many people were saved, or Grimm were slain before a hunter falls it doesn't change anything. The people saved could be put back in danger later, and the Grimm just never stopped coming.

"I don't know. I really don't." He said resting his head on top of hers as she buried her face in his chest.

 _Inside the Room_

WBY and Qrow were processing what they had just heard, but something still wasn't adding up in their minds.

"You just accept that she died because he was trying to kill somebody, and she got in the way?" Qrow asked.

"With how it happened I wish I could be mad at him, but I'm not. Everyone has their reasons to do something. Mom wanted to stop him, and he wanted to finish his contract." She said still mad at herself for being unable to be angry at him.

"But Ruby there's a difference between saving people and killing them!" Weiss said slightly louder than she had meant to.

"Everyone has their reasons remember." Ruby responded staring her partner in the eyes.

"No one should have a reason to kill another person!" Yang screamed her eyes turning red. "No matter how bad someone might be there should never be a reason to kill another person. Those that do are worse than the Grimm because while the Grimm kill on instinct the people who kill choose to do it." Yang said finishing her mini-rant her hair alight with flames.

Blake froze at what her partner had said as did Qrow. 'She doesn't know! The rest of them don't know!' He screamed internally looking at his daughter.

Blake's mind was in a slightly different turmoil. 'She wouldn't just admit it to them now of all times would she?' Despite the team minus Ruby having discussed what Blake had learned about Ruby having killed a while back there's a big difference from hearing it from another and the person actually admitting it.

Ruby gave Blake an amused look before setting her gaze back towards her cooling down sister.

"Does that include me Yang?" She asked innocently.

Yang's flame instantly died. "W-what did you say?" She asked hoping she heard wrong.

"You said all murderers are monsters worse than Grimm. Does that include me." Ruby asked tilting her head to the side.

"Y-you've actually killed someone?" The blonde brawler asked in horror. Up until this point it seems she had been in a state of denial about what her partner had told them.

"Did the headmaster show you the footage that got me into Beacon?" Ruby asked her Uncle? Father? Oh forget it. She asked with a small half-smile.

"What's she talking about?" The heiress spoke up looking to Qrow. Ruby noted she looked even paler than usual maybe she was coming down with something.

Qrow just gave Ruby another hard gaze. "That's another thing I've been meaning to ask you. Was it that bastard that taught you to kill with a smile on your face?"

All eyes in the room looked towards Ruby although Neo's weren't eyes of surprise, but more curiosity than anything.

Ruby gave a small smile to the others in the room. "No, he just helped show me where to start. From then on it was just instinct." She finished her smile darkening.

 _Outside the Room_

Glynda had recovered a bit, but now she was just glaring at Kyle.

"What exactly did you do?" She asked icily.

"Hey, don't look at me I needed to interrogate someone for a contract, and I let her watch to get her used to the sight of the usual pain, suffering, and blood that came with the job since she took her first kill so… poorly." He muttered the last part before realizing he was getting off topic. "Anyways she took to that extremely well and asked if she could help. The rest as they say is history. I may enjoy the pain and suffering of others from time to time, but Ruby is on a different level." 'A level very similar to Neo. I almost feel bad for their future contracts.' He thought with a shudder.

"I really can't believe that I like you with all the horrible things you've done." Glynda said lowly.

"Me neither, but hey I'm not complaining." He teased.

"Just shut up they might hear us." She said going back to listening.

'Oh how the tables have turned.' He thought with a silent chuckle. 'I'm a horrible influence.'

 _Inside the Room_

Yang was broken. She could deal with her sister hurting others since she believed the little girl she used to know was still in there somewhere, but this… There was a certain point of no return, and Ruby just admitted to completely crossing it with a smile on her face. Not knowing what else to do she backed away from the thing that had been pretending to be her sister before tripping and falling back on her butt.

"What's the matter Yang? You look like you've seen a ghost or something." Ruby said taking a step forward, her smile growing.

"Ruby that's enough!" Qrow shouted causing her to look back to him.

Blake seeing the attention in the room being diverted got off her bed and wrapped an arm around the brawler who turned towards her and started bawling. 'I'm so sorry Yang… I thought you'd come to terms with what she's done, but it looks like she's farther gone than what we had originally thought.' She knew Ruby had admitted to killing, but she didn't realize the joy she apparently took from it.

"Any other questions _father_?" She asked readopting her mask.

"…No… I'm sorry Summer… it seems our little rose is long gone." He said looking defeated.

"Her little rose isn't gone. She's just developed some thorns to protect herself." Ruby said turning back to the door. "I know this is a lot to take in for everyone here, so until further notice I'll be sleeping elsewhere. If any of you want to talk then I'm always available to listen I am still your leader after all, and it's still my job to take care of the team, but just remember who you're asking to talk to." She said as she started walking to the door. When She and Neo had reached the door, she paused once more. "Blake you're in charge when I'm not around. I have a feeling you'll be able to keep them together, and don't forget about the tournament starting in a few days." She finished. Without waiting for any form of protests or comments she and Neo walked out of the room and turned to see a black and purple blur out of the corner of their eyes.

"Was that?" Neo asked.

"Yep it looks like it." Ruby replied before walking to the end of the hall and falling to the ground. "I'm not sure what to think right now. In the span of a day I found out what happened to my mother, my uncle turned real father finds me, I tell the rest of the team that I've killed, and now it looks like I lost our bet." She said with a sigh.

Neo pumped her fist in the air at the last part. Before Ruby could roll her eyes or anything else Neo had knelt down and kissed the young reaper. It didn't last long, but it was full of desire and emotion.

"Thanks Neo I think I just found the best way to end this disastrous day." Ruby said pulling the ice-cream girl into another kiss.

 _With Kyle and Glynda_

After they had stopped moving Glynda realized they were in front of his room and he was looking at her. "Let me get this straight. You would've rather they thought we were making out or something rather than them finding you listening in on what was happening inside the room?" He asked making her look down to hide her blush.

"It was the first thing I came up with!" She hissed.

"Well I might be able to come up with a few other things, but we can start with that." Without another word he pulled her into another kiss this one lasting much… much… longer.

 **A/N: Well it's been a while hasn't it? Anyways I hope you all enjoyed, and some of you might be like "Wait didn't you end the last chapter with no confrontation on that night?" Well yeah I did, but I'm going to change that because Looking at what needed to be done for this chapter this was the way I wanted to do it, so I'll change the last chapter to make sure that last line isn't in there.**

 **Umm next reviews I guess. There was only one review I really needed to address, and that was the one that asked how they (Ruby's family) thought Kyle killed Summer when his attack didn't break her aura etc. etc. Well to answer this question it's really just my own view on aura. In my eyes a strong enough attack like the reaper's for example especially to certain areas of the body can cut through aura and leave a wound without fully breaking the aura. Another time I used aura like this was when Cardin lost his hand. Ruby went for a quick and powerful attack to the already weakened aura, and since he was focusing most of his remaining aura elsewhere the aura around his hand gave, but didn't break. In the situation from last chapter while Summer had most of her aura she took the full brunt of an attack that was meant to bisect a person to the back. If you still don't think there'd be damage from that then I really can't help you on that one.**

 **Hmm am I forgetting anything? Maybe? I guess we'll find out soon. Oh right before I forget I'll be starting the Vytal Festival stuff next chapter to get this story moving along the canonical path again, and by extension coming to the end of this story. If time permits after all is said and done I will continue this with a sequel if you guys want it of course. Volume 6 has been giving me lots of ideas.**

 **Anyways Follow, Favorite, Review, and whatever else you all do.**

 **EDIT: Hey guys so I'm disappointed. Mostly in myself. In preparation for writing the next chapter I decided to reread my story so far as a whole, and I came to the realization that this chapter had quite a few things wrong with it timeline wise. It's actually interesting that no one commented on it, but oh well. The changes were very minor in detail, and some of you might not even notice if you were to reread which would mean I've hopefully succeeded in fixing those mistakes without taking anything away from the chapter. Don't worry I am working on this next chapter, and I'll answer reviews and such at the end of it like usual. Ciao.**

 **~Laz out.**


	24. Chapter 24

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY**

 **In this chapter there are insinuations of one thing or another, so this is a trigger warning. I don't personally see it as anything bad, but you know better safe than sorry.**

Chapter 23

 _The Next Morning_

Glynda Goodwitch woke up to the first rays of the sun peeking through the window only to realize that she wasn't her room. All too quickly she realized that not only was this not her room, but she was also missing her clothes. Finally, she realized who was still asleep next to her.

"Kyle what did you do!" She hissed swatting him lightly on the shoulder.

"Hmm… go back to sleep… it's too early to be up right now…" He mumbled rolling slightly so that his back was to her.

Having none of this she found her crop and used it to "lightly" remove Kyle from his bed and onto the floor.

The reaper for his part just looked up at her from where he had landed. "Ow."

"Well you should've woken up when I prodded you earlier." She said with a frown. "Now tell me what you did last night."

Kyle raised an eyebrow before smirking. "That's a good question. What did _you_ do?"

"W-what do you mean by that?!" She hissed again getting slightly redder.

"Just take a second to remember what happened last night… remember the things you did~" He said getting up and slowly walking up to her.

Remember she did, and he could tell by the color of her face. Red enough to put Ruby's cape to shame.

Before she could respond he patted her shoulder. "You're still naked by the way." He said passing her and going into his bathroom.

'That's it I'm going to kill him!' She thought with a scowl.

 _With Ruby and Neo_

Ruby and Neo both woke up around the same time in Neo's bed this time. Looking around for a moment Ruby realized that Neo's teammates weren't there. "Good morning Neo." She said softly.

"Good morning Rose." She signed back.

"Yesterday really happened didn't it?" The mini-reaper asked.

Neo nodded.

"Well… damn… I suppose things just got a bit more complicated, didn't they?"

She nodded again.

"In hindsight that's some perfect timing with the Vytal Festival starting later this week." Ruby said sarcastically.

Neo gave her silent giggle. "Just our luck huh?"

"Hey, I'd say our luck is pretty good." Ruby pouted crossing her arms.

"Eh… it fluctuates." The ice-cream girl signed.

"Well anyways I say we find something to eat before classes start." Ruby said sitting up. Neo thought about arguing, but she had already caused the both of them to miss some classes before, so she conceded.

 _With WBY_

 _The Night Before_

Qrow had left shortly after Ruby did looking very… distraught. Yang had eventually cried herself to sleep in Blake and Weiss' arms. The monochrome pair were both taking the news differently, but far better than their blonde teammate. Blake while not liking it, didn't see her leader as very different than before. From the casualness she had when talking about more… morbid things Blake had assumed that this could be a possibility. Weiss was shaken up about the whole thing, but ultimately her thoughts were more on herself. 'At least she can be honest with how she feels about this kind of thing, and here I am acting like those things never happened.'

Despite Weiss' typically cold personality she ended up falling asleep with the other two since Yang was partially laying on them.

 _Present_

Weiss strangely enough was the first one awake the next morning. 'I need to talk to Ruby.' She thought. She had been rather restless all-night thinking about everything she learned, knew, and didn't know involving her partner.

 _With Ruby and Neo_

"So, Ruby what brought you back to our dorm last night?" Cinder asked as she sat down.

Ruby and Neo had been in the cafeteria when the rest of her team appeared and sat down with them.

Ruby looked at Neo before looking to the mature woman. "Just some complications with my team. No big deal." She answered.

"I see that is unfortunate. Is there anything you need help with?" She asked.

"What do you mean by help?" Ruby asked.

"Anything you might need help with. Friends help each other out don't they, and I'd like us to be friends, or at the very least acquaintances." Cinder replied.

"Well I don't personally need anything right now, but what about you?"

"What about me?"

"If we're helping 'friends' here then is there something _you_ need help with?" Ruby asked adopting a more serious look.

Cinder looked thoughtful for a moment as if considering something. After briefly looking around to see if anyone was eavesdropping, she looked back towards the young rose. "Do you remember me mentioning that I had a plan in the works by chance?"

"Yes."

"Well I was hoping that you would be willing to assist me in making sure it goes off without a hitch." She said with a small smile.

Call her curious. Ruby raised an eyebrow in question. "And how could I assist you in this plan of yours?"

"There isn't much you really need to know about it. I just would like for you to stay out of the way when the time comes. The reaper too."

"It's hard to stay out of the way of something you aren't aware of." Ruby said unimpressed. "If you want me and by relation Kyle to do something or not then you need to be more specific."

Cinder wasn't very happy with the response, but she conceded the point in the statement. Her minions usually obeyed and let her do the thinking, but this girl was different than they were. She didn't have anything that the red girl would want aside from maybe Neo. "Our plans will soon begin, and they might involve you and people you know in a large or small way depending on how the tournament goes."

"Interesting. Anything in particular that I should be aware of?" She asked.

"Not right now. Depending on how the festival goes will decide what I may or may not need you to know."

'So, you've basically told me there's a plan and that it's starting soon, but not anything about it aside from a connection to the festival. There's not much of anything that I could report if I took this to higher powers. Well done.' She silently praised. Only an idiot would spill their entire plan to a practical stranger especially in a hunter academy of all places. "Very well I'll keep that in mind." She said standing up.

Neo moved to follow, but Cinder spoke up. "Neo if you would stay back a minute, I need to talk about some things with you alone."

Neo rolled her eyes since she was facing away from the she-devil but nodded at Ruby saying she'd be right there.

Ruby started walking away with her tray and threw it away. Before she could leave the cafeteria, she was slightly surprised to find Weiss in front of her looking nervous about something.

"Ruby can we talk in private for a minute?" She asked.

'Now this is interesting. I wasn't expecting any of them to seek me out so quickly.' She thought before nodding. "Lead the way."

Weiss nodded and led them out of the cafeteria and into the garden. No one was around at this time, and Ruby took a moment to appreciate how the dew on the flowers and other plants made everything shine in the sunlight.

Weiss came across a bench and sat down. After seeing her leader's hesitation, she patted the spot next to her, so Ruby slowly sat.

"Well Weiss what did you want to talk about?" Ruby asked her icy partner.

Weiss sat quiet for a few moments trying to figure out what it was that she wanted to say. "Last night… before you came back the four of us decided to work together to help bring the old you back whatever that means." She admitted. Ruby was shocked to say the least. She knew they would do something like that, but she didn't expect Weiss of all people to tell her that.

"Alright?" Ruby asked trying to see where she was going with this.

"When you came in and told us what happened to your mother then admitted to the whole killing thing it… reminded me of something I've been trying to forget." She said.

"Oh? What'd it remind you of?" She now had Ruby's full attention.

Weiss debated with herself internally for a moment before sighing. "What is it you feel whenever you kill someone?"

Out of everything she was expecting, another question was not it. "Umm… like just in general?" She asked receiving a nod. "I guess…" she started blushing. This was really awkward to explain. "I'm kind of a sadist… so I usually enjoy it when I'm able to draw out someone's last pained breath." She tried to explain not really sure what to expect from the heiress.

"So, you do feel something then?" She asked further confusing the reaper. "A long time ago when I was younger… my mother and I used to go out to one of the family's vacation homes in the forests around Atlas. We always had a group of SDC guards to protect us, so we never had to worry about anything, and we were just allowed to enjoy ourselves out away from my… father. She would take each of us out on different kinds of trips trying to connect to us individually." Weiss said with a pause.

Ruby was long confused at this point but decided to stay quiet and see where this went. She had a feeling it wouldn't end well.

"On one of those trips our group was ambushed by the White Fang. They fought and eventually killed the guards we had with us, but they took a lot of casualties too. Since we were close to the cabin that's where they brought us after they had cuffed and gagged us. We were put in one of the small rooms, and they said we would be ransomed or something like that. It didn't take long for one of them to come back and grab my mother. They said they'd make an example out of her… even now I can hear the screams… the… the…" Weiss was cradling herself trying to stop the shaking.

Ruby wrapped an arm around the shaking girl. "Shh shh I think I understand you don't have to go into details. Just take a minute to calm down. Long deep breathes… inhale… exhale…"

After a minute or so Weiss stopped shaking and appeared calmer. "Thanks for that… after that happened and the noises had stopped… my mother didn't come back, and neither did anyone else. I was terrified… after a few hours I was getting desperate. I had gotten lucky in a way because my handcuffs weren't on tight enough, so I had slipped my cuffs off earlier, but I still didn't know what to do, so I acted like I was still bound. Eventually one of them came in and threw some food at me saying they needed me at least somewhat alive for a ransom… after that there was nothing. No sounds whatsoever. Then I heard it… the howling of a beowolf then more joined the chorus. The White Fang must've heard it too since they started shouting at each other and running around the cabin. When the noises stopped, I got up and opened the door. I guess they weren't expecting a little kid to get out of her handcuffs. Peeking through I couldn't see anyone, but I could hear gunfire in the distance. I knew I had to figure a way out of that mess, and who else would a kid go to, but their mom, so I looked for her… when I found her in the master bedroom, she was… already gone… I realized that I couldn't just sit there and cry over my mother unless I wanted to die as well. I walked across the room to the panel she'd told me to open in case of an emergency. I found a scroll and a creepy looking knife inside and called the only number in the scroll's contact list, but before I could speak to whoever the contact was, I heard the Fang coming back into the house. There I was little eight-year-old Weiss all alone with White Fang members in the house armed with nothing but a dagger. I dropped the scroll and hid under the bed. One of them came into the room and saw the scroll on the floor, then he shouted for someone to check on the prisoner while he bent down to pick up the scroll." She paused again, and Ruby was still just waiting patiently.

"That's when it happened… I don't know what came over me but the next thing I knew I had crawled out from under the bed and was on his back with the dagger in his throat. He was struggling to get me off before he went limp beneath me. In whatever state I was in I didn't notice anyone coming in, so I got knocked off his body and into one of the walls. Had I been thinking logically I might've realized the situation I was in, but I was running high on adrenaline, so the only thing I came up with was to keep attacking… it was them or me." Weiss said looking off for a moment before starting again. "This next part might sound a little strange because it was. Even with the adrenaline I could still feel the pain from being hit into the wall, but when I went after the guy again and landed a hit on him the pain… disappeared. Every time I hit him with the knife, I felt the pain less and less until it was gone, it was almost euphoric. When the grunt was bleeding out on the floor, I felt great… invigorated even. Unfortunately, the rest of the Fang members had heard the screaming and rushed into the room. There might've been two or three there that were still in fighting shape after the initial fight with the guards then dealing with the Grimm, but honestly, I'm not sure what happened after they came in… when I came to, I was laying in my bed back at home. When I woke up, my sister Winter was waiting by my bedside, and after the normal 'are you alright?' string of questions I was able to ask her what had happened."

After another pause Weiss looked into Ruby's eyes. "I remembered what happened up till the point of the second grunt's death, and I remembered staring at each of the others that came in after that, but I don't remember anything else. I didn't know what happened to the rest of them, how I was still alive, or how I got back home. Winter hesitated to say anything at first, but after questioning her a few more times she told me that everyone in the cabin had been killed, and when they found me, I was unconscious, covered in blood, and still clutching the bloody blade." She said slowly reaching somewhere in her uniform. "Apparently, in my unconscious state I wouldn't let go of the knife, so my father had just told them to let me hang on to it. When I came to it was still clutched in my right hand. It is a strange blade… my father didn't recognize it when he saw it, and he didn't care what I did with it, so I kept it even after I had started using Myrtenaster." She finished as she pulled out what Ruby assumed to be the knife from the story.

Being the weapon nut she was Ruby instantly started analyzing the weapon and was shocked by its… unique appearance. The blade despite being well cared for like most of Weiss' belongings looked worn and had stains on it. From the hilt to almost the tip of the weapon were notch-like engravings going about halfway across the curved blade. The handle appeared to be wooden, and above and below it was metal that curved to a point. It was kind of like a demonic looking handguard that didn't actually cover one's hand. Looking closer she saw that the darker metal around the handle also had engravings on it. They had almost triangle-like outlines filled with rings of circles. Finally, the strangest thing she noted about the blade was it emitted a red light. It wasn't distinct or flashy, but more of a dull glow.

"Well I like your knife, but I don't think that it was the reason you decided to tell me that story." Ruby said wondering where the story's center was.

"I know… I was still figuring out how to say this, but I'll just get right to it. After I woke up and remembered what happened I realized something that bothered me." Weiss said looking down at the knife.

"Was it the whole killing thing?" Ruby asked after the pause.

"No… I mean yes… I'm not sure. The thing that was bothering me was that I didn't feel anything when I thought about the people I killed. I thought I might have a sense of relief or satisfaction for avenging my mother, or that I might feel guilty about it despite the horrible things they did… but in the end I felt nothing. It was like I didn't end the lives of those people. That I didn't murder them all. I felt nothing… even now I don't feel remorse for what I did. I treated it like it was just as natural as breathing or stepping on ants as you walk by. What kind of person does that make me?" Weiss asked feeling very vulnerable. The whole incident had been swept under the rug courtesy of her father, and since none of the Fang made it back from that mission the only ones who knew what had happened were a select few from the company and Schnee family, so that meant that Ruby was the first person outside of her family that she'd ever told this story to.

"I think that is just part of what makes you Weiss." Ruby said confusing the older girl. "Everyone is different when it comes to this kind of thing. I personally like killing… at least when I'm the one doing it. Kyle sees it as more of a means to an end rather than anything else. He'll enjoy it sometimes, but other times he just does it quickly and moves on. Blake while I don't know if she has personally killed anyone would probably feel guilty about it since that's just kind of who she is. She feels guilty about her past in the White Fang, so she'd probably feel guilty about killing people too. You saw Yang's reaction to it last night. She'd be horrified at the aspect of actually ending someone's life. She fights to win a fight, but in a fight to the death kind of fight she might hesitate when the time comes to finish it. Like you've said you don't feel anything. It may've just been because of the circumstances, or you didn't feel anything because of who they were, but I'm not sure unless you've killed anyone else?"

"I haven't had to, so no." Weiss answered.

"Then I'm not sure if you'll respond differently if it were to happen again, but regardless it doesn't really matter. You don't feel anything, I take joy in it, and Yang vehemently opposes it, but at the end of the day you're still Weiss, I'm still Ruby, and Yang's still Yang. The past helps make us who we are. That day you learned what it was like to kill, and I know this might sound bad, but I'm really happy that you told me about it." Ruby said.

"Why's that?" The heiress asked.

"Because even after all that happened yesterday you still seem to trust me enough to tell me all of this." Ruby said with a smile.

"Even after that wreck of a conversation last night I realized something that hadn't occurred to me. Despite your apparent lack of morals, your tendency to be overly secretive, and the fact that you genuinely drive me crazy sometimes, you're still the same dolt from the start of the year, and my first real friend at Beacon." She said making the other girl smile even more.

"Aww Weissy!" Ruby said happily hugging the resident ice queen.

"No that doesn't mean you just get to hug me!" Weiss squirmed.

Ruby just laughed at her and let go. "Well fine then." Ruby pouted playfully. "There is one part of your story that I've been wondering about for the past few minutes." She said.

"Which part is that?" Weiss asked somewhat hesitantly.

"You made it sound like the guys you were fighting didn't have aura or something since they were offed by, and no offence, an eight-year-old girl." She said.

"Well that is what I meant when I said that was a weird part of the story, but I guess I could show you what I mean." Weiss said twirling the knife in her hand. "Do you trust me Ruby?" She asked with her own grin.

"Hmm sure what're you gonna do?" Ruby asked eyeing the dagger she was twirling and flipping in her hand.

"Well at some point I realized this dagger was kind of special as I'm sure you've realized from the story. Hold out your hand and have your aura up." She said making Ruby raise an eyebrow.

"Okay." She said doing as she asked.

Weiss put her own hand out as well and cut it slightly. Then she took the knife and put it against Ruby's hand before making a cut drawing blood.

Ruby just stared at her hand, then at the knife, and then at Weiss' hand. "Woahhhh… that's… really cool." She said as her aura healed her hand. The knife had completely ignored her aura and cut into her hand then seemed to heal the cut on Weiss' hand. The pain was chilling to say the least for the young reaper, but at the same time there was a sense of wonder in her eyes. "Weiss where did that come from!?" She yelled louder than Weiss had been expecting.

"Well father didn't know, so I'd imagine my mother was the one to put it in there, and I can't really ask her, can I?" Weiss said.

Despite the answer Ruby had a look of wonder on her face. "That is so cooool! Do you know how much easier assassination jobs would be with a weapon that bypasses aura?! Not to mention it heals you!" She said in a loud whisper.

"I can imagine they'd be much easier, but that's not really the reason I've kept it with me." The heiress said rolling her eyes.

"That's true." Ruby conceded. "That'd also explain why you haven't used it, that'd raise a lot of questions and bring more attention to you and your family. Weapons that bypass aura and heal the user aren't exactly the most common things." She added as an afterthought. "Since you found it, and no one seems to know where it came from did you give it a name?"

"It's nothing as regal as Myrtenaster, and don't laugh, but I've taken to calling it A Schnee's Woe. It may not be creative, but then again, I don't broadcast that I usually have her on my person. You're the first and probably only person at Beacon to know I have this, and the only one here who's heard the story that goes with it. Can you promise not to tell any of the others?" Weiss asked with a small amount of hope in her eyes.

"I promise Weiss. We all have our own secrets and stories, and despite what happened last night it's best if the story comes from the original source rather than another." She said with a small smile.

Weiss felt guilty for a moment for so readily listening to the 'true' story about her leader's mother when said girl wasn't in the room, but she got over it quickly. "I am… sorry that we all jumped on the 'bring the old Ruby back' train without seeing what you had to say about everything." She said looking again slightly guilty and ashamed.

Ruby just gasped aloud. "Weiss Schnee apologizing? Who are you and what have you done with my partner?!"

Weiss rolled her eyes. "You sure know how to ruin a moment you dolt." She said with a huff.

"I just thought after the whole exploding incident on the first day you'd never apologize for anything." Ruby said smirking.

"Don't remind me of that." Weiss said putting her face in her hands.

"Anyways as you know last night was a pain for all parties involved myself included, but still like with all things there were positives that came out of it all." Ruby said leaning back into the bench.

"What would those be?"

"Well for one I was able to get a lot of things off my chest, and at least some of my teammates, you, still see me as Ruby and not a monster." She said with a sad smile. She knew what risks she was taking when she told them the truth, but that didn't necessarily make it any easier.

"I'm sure they don't see you as a monster." Weiss offered weakly. "Well I don't think Blake does. She did tell us that you had killed before after you had originally told her."

Ruby paused. "She told you guys before then that I had killed someone?" She asked receiving a hesitant nod. "And you guys didn't question me about it at all?" She asked receiving another nod. "Mmmkay that actually makes a lot more sense with how you all were acting for a while, but if you guys already knew why'd Yang take it so badly?" Ruby asked not really expecting the heiress to have an answer.

"I think I know what it was." Weiss said surprising the hooded girl. "When you're told something about a person from another, for example you've killed before, it's different than hearing you yourself admit to it. I went through that with Winter when I admitted to what happened with those first White Fang members." Weiss said. Her sister, despite being older than her, didn't take it nearly as well as Weiss the person who actually killed them did.

"I guess that'd make sense." Ruby said swinging her feet back and forth. "Weiss… thank you."

"For what?"

"I knew what would happen when I told you all what I did last night, and honestly I thought that none of you would openly accept me anymore, yet here you are spending all this time talking and opening up to me about yourself. I thought it'd just be me and Neo for a while." She replied.

"Neo wasn't at all surprised by anything you said yesterday." Weiss said making Ruby look to her. "You've certainly found yourself an interesting girlfriend. It'd almost be more reasonable to see people like the both of you on the more criminal side of the law rather than as huntresses." She finished with a small smirk.

"I haven't the slightest clue what you mean Weiss." Ruby said trying not to smile.

"What you two do in your free time is up to you. I might not show it much, but I do trust that you know what you're doing, but if you do continue your disappearing acts then at least let me have something to go off of." She said.

"I think I can do that. Again, thank you Weiss." Ruby said checking her scroll. 'Uh oh.'

"What's that face for?" Weiss asked looking over then checking her own scroll. Their first class started half an hour ago. Weiss froze where she was. 'My first tardy…' Wiess Schnee heiress to the illustrious Schnee Dust Company was currently ditching class. "Noooooooooooo!" Weiss screamed out in a very un-Schnee-like way.

Ruby was giggling to herself. "Don't worry Weiss it's your first time I'm sure you'll just get a warning or something."

The heiress just glared at her.

"Alright alright fine." Ruby said standing up. "If you want to get there as quickly as possible then take my hand." She said holding out her hand.

'I have a bad feeling about this.' Weiss thought as she grabbed her partner's hand. As per usual on Air Ruby the world blurred, and when everything stopped Weiss realized they were in their classroom. 'It's initiation all over again… I think I'm going to be sick.'

"Miss Schnee and Miss Rose how good of you to finally join us." Dr. Oobleck said to the now present girls. "You both can make up the time you missed in detention tomorrow."

'Well so much for that.' Ruby thought to herself while her partner was still glaring at her, but there wasn't any fire behind it.

Seeing their teammates and friends and Ruby's 'friends' looking at them with varying reactions Ruby decided they should probably sit down, so she led Weiss to where their team was sitting. Weiss sat next to Blake and Ruby sat down next to her on the left. When Oobleck was turned around writing something on the board Neo disappeared in a flash appearing in the seat next to Ruby.

"Did something happen?" Neo signed.

"No Weiss just wanted to talk about some things. Personal stuff you know." Ruby signed back.

Someone in front of the two cleared their throat. "Would you like to join Miss Rose and Miss Schnee in detention Miss Neo?" Professor Oobleck signed.

Neo and Ruby grinned sheepishly. "Sorry professor-"

"Doctor."

"-Oobleck. It is interesting that you know sign language." Ruby said.

"Dear girl I study history of all forms, and therefore need to have a general knowledge of many languages. Sign language included." He said before looking back to the rest of the class. "For taking up valuable class time you will be joining these two in detention tomorrow." He said before zipping back to his desk and picking up where he left off.

"Okay." Neo signed with a shrug. She didn't care too much about a detention.

With that the rest of the class went off without any interruptions.

 **A/N: Hmm... you know when I said I'd be getting back on the canonical track I was planning to at least get to starting the fights in this chapter, and I barely made it through the next morning. Oh well. I hope you all enjoyed.**

 **Trivia Time! You all remember our little guessing game on where Mercy came from, well this time it's Weiss' weapon. This one is also a video game. I apologize for my horrible description, but for anyone who does guess it Idk i'll give you a shout out in the next chapter's A/N.**

 **Hmm review time I suppose. I'll be a bit more specific in my responses this one time just for fun, and because there were quite a few of them.**

 **Ember228: That's how Weiss responded. Who can say if anyone else on RWBY is hiding a dark secret past.**

 **Sm0keyPanda: I feel ya, but the ambiguity and brokeness of the world that is Remnant does leave room for a lot of interpretations that can make stories more interesting. R.I.P. Monty**

 **JackTheSpades: Don't worry about the return to canon. Like usual I'll have fun writing chapters I think you all will enjoy, and keep to the 'slight AU' mentioned in the summary of the story.**

 **Videocrazy: Well you commented a lot didn't you alright yes Yang does still have her "rescue chip" from Raven. The Branwen Tribe might canonically only be in Anima, but since it isn't really addressed I was liberal with that and just have them hopping around a majority of Remnants woodlands. The next one's a long one so first WBY might care a bit more about the White Fang thrown off the train if they were the ones to do it. I had them go down into the train before any fighting up top started, so most of that lies on Glynda's shoulders. The "uncle" deception was another thing I could've added that would have definitely changed the dynamic of everything, but since this was all happening at once I decided for Ruby to brush it off more than anything for the literal life-long lie that she didn't want to address. Was that specifically the right move? Who knows, but that's really up to the viewer. Lol poor Cardin. Finally the big one. You're right being a huntress was her dream it was what she wanted from the very beginning, so how did she end up so warped? You know what it's like to have an idolized version of something in your head then to slowly realize that it isn't what you thought, or it isn't something you actually want? They say never meet your heroes. I wonder why.**

 **KHARAKI TAKAN: I'm glad you like Glynda I don't always know exactly what I'm doing when I'm writing her character, but it's fun.**

 **WraithWriters: Your review was on an older chapter, but I didn't even mean to make an insinuation like that, but I laughed my ass off at what you thought of. I hate puns too, but at the same time love them, so thank you for that.**

 **R3activepaladin: You have no idea how tempted I am to just say you'll see, but I was nice this time. In the chapter something Ruby says indicates how she will see the fall and how she will react towards it, at least partially. It's clear to me, but maybe not to the readers so we'll see on that.**

 **EeveeTheImmortal: Favorite ship. Cookies and Cream all the way. Always happy to convert people.**

 **JustSk8n: Roman is my second favorite character in the show, and he's only behind our favorite red reaper. Neo's like third almost tied w/ Roman.**

 **jmartinez8089: You know I never actually thought about Ruby getting mad at Summer because like most young kids their mom is their whole world, if the mom is present and you know loving. I can see where possible anger would come from had she been older and actually thinking about what was happening, but by the time she hears everything she knows that she and Summer weren't really the direct targets, but yeah idk interesting point of view.**

 **To everyone who said they'd like to see a sequel thanks for that I don't really have anything else to say about that since we have yet to finish this story.**

 **Everyone else like always thanks for all the follows, favorites, and reviews. Just because I didn't mention it doesn't mean I didn't read it.**

 **I believe that's everything for this chapter. For anyone who doesn't know I went back in the last chapter after rereading everything I'd written so far, and fixed a few glaring issues that didn't line up with the story thus far. It was mainly minor details, so it shouldn't affect anything too much.**

 **Follow, Favorite, Review, and whatever else you all do.**

 **~Laz out.**


	25. Chapter 25

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY in case that wasn't obvious**

Chapter 24

 _Detention_

After Oobleck's class the previous day not much happened. Yang and by relation Blake seemed to be distancing themselves from the Whiterose partners, or specifically the rose.

Weiss was acting grumpy all day because of the detention, but she was still interacting with Ruby and surprisingly Neo, much to the confusion of their other teammates. Adding to the strangeness, combat class was apparently canceled for the day.

The next day was pretty similar to the previous one with nothing of interest happening until they arrived at detention. Oobleck was waiting for the three girls to arrive and get situated before going to his office nearby to get some paperwork done.

Ruby watched as Dr. Oobleck left the classroom with a simple 'Stay quiet and use this time to do some of your schoolwork. '

Once he was gone Neo moved over to sit next to Ruby who was about to call out for Weiss to join them. Neo stopped her before she could open her mouth, getting a confused look from the Crimsonette.

"Yesterday you said that she figured us out, didn't you?" She signed.

"Yea pretty much why?" Ruby signed back.

Neo grinned then nodded towards the lone camera in the room. Ruby looked at the camera and still didn't know what the silent girl wanted her to do.

Neo pinched the bridge of her nose before signing something out.

Ruby made an 'Oh' face and disappeared in a flurry of rose petals. She then reappeared in one of the camera's blind spots. Weiss noticed the tornado of petals and sighed after seeing Ruby about to do something stupid, and probably illegal.

Within a second Ruby had separated the camera from the ceiling with Mercy. Then she casually picked the camera up, started walking towards the window, and then threw it out of said window.

"Ruby what on Remnant are you doing?!" Weiss hissed looking at where the camera had been.

"I blame her." Ruby said pointing at the ice-cream girl who rolled her eyes in response.

After the thorough eye-rolling Neo stood up and walked over to Weiss.

"Yes?" Weiss asked not expecting to be randomly approached. She noticed Ruby closing the door to the classroom.

Neo pulled out her scroll and started typing. "I heard you and Ruby had a bonding moment yesterday."

"Ruby! Did you tell her?!" Weiss asked suddenly becoming furious.

"No, I promised not to tell anyone, and that includes Neo and Kyle." Ruby said holding her hands up.

Calming down a bit Weiss looked back to Neo who was smiling. "Thanks for trusting her… she might not want to show it, but she was really worried after what happened the other night." She typed out.

"Neoooo." Ruby pouted seeing the message.

Weiss gave a small half-smile. "I would be in a bad position if I wasn't able to trust in my partner, so think nothing of it." She said rather haughtily which made Ruby and Neo laugh.

"No need to put on that act Weissy it's just the three of us here." Ruby said throwing an arm around the blue girl's shoulder.

"Ruby I may trust you, but that doesn't mean I completely trust your girlfriend yet." Weiss said moving Ruby's arm off her shoulder.

"See Neo I told you she was smart." Ruby said happily getting a confused look from the heiress.

Neo just shrugged and nodded noticing Weiss' confused expression.

Ruby then looked back over at her. "What?" She asked.

"What did you mean when you said you told her?" Weiss asked trying to make sense of all of this.

"She wanted to see what kind of person you were. You know, see if you could be someone trustable. Just because I trust both of you doesn't mean you both need to trust each other that's just not how that works." Ruby answered. "Had you immediately trusted her she probably wouldn't do that." Ruby finished pointing at a no longer disguised Neo.

Weiss was just looking between the two girls who were smirking at her. 'They're actually insane.' Was her only thought.

After a minute or two Weiss finally came back to reality. "What!? If I didn't trust her why would she show me who she really is?" Weiss asked genuinely confused.

"This is a way to see if you can keep a secret and see if we together can trust you. I might trust you, but together we don't." Ruby said earning a nod from Neo.

"You do know that reasoning is horribly flawed." Weiss pointed out.

"Well we thought it'd be fun, and besides if we do end up trusting you then we can all be friends. Besides there isn't much in the way of proof at the moment. If you ran to get a teacher or something, then she'd just be back in disguise by the time you got back. If you took a picture or tried to call someone, we can easily stop you. If you told someone later then it'd just be your word against ours." When she was finished Ruby shrugged. "If something goes wrong and it's worst case scenario and she does get found out then we can just leave."

Weiss sat there processing everything she just heard. Despite it being stupid she had to admit that they had a point in some cases. Even with her pride she will admit any day of the week that Ruby is faster than her, and in a two on one situation there isn't much to be done in the way of combat even with Woe. Finally, she looked to Ruby who now appeared to be slightly anxious, which made Weiss sigh. "Ruby I can't even explain in words how dumb this plan of yours was, and at the same time it is definitely something I could see you doing." She said shaking her head getting quizzical looks from Neo and Ruby.

"But?" Ruby offered.

"But I will admit that I'd rather trust you two than not, and maybe in some way become friends." She finished the second part quickly.

Ruby and Neo smiled. Suddenly everyone heard the doorknob turning before a black glyph appeared around the knob stopping it. "Hurry and sit down and…" When she was about to tell Neo to get back into her disguise, she was pleasantly surprised to find she had already changed back and was now sitting in a nearby desk with Ruby sitting between them.

"Has someone locked the door?" A voice came from outside. Immediately Weiss released the glyph and acted like everything was normal.

Sticking his head in to check up on the students Oobleck saw that while they were sitting closer together, they didn't seem to be causing any trouble. "I don't know if it was actually locked or just stuck, but please don't lock the door." He said quickly before disappearing again.

All three girls let out a collective breath. After a moment Weiss turned to see Ruby and Neo signing something to each other, well Neo was signing something, and Ruby was whispering a response. 'That might be fun.' Weiss thought to herself.

Tempering her resolve for a moment Weiss stood up and approached the two. She was specifically looking at Neo.

Neo saw her walk up and raised an eyebrow in question.

"Ruby said the other night that you were the one who taught her sign language." She said receiving a nod from the other girl. "Would you be willing to teach me?"

Ruby and Neo looked between each other puzzled. After a moment or two Ruby shrugged. "This could get you guys closer to being friends."

Neo looked Weiss up and down before typing on her scroll. "Why do you want to learn it?"

"Well I think it would be a useful language to know… and besides… it would probably be easier on you than having to type everything in a scroll." Weiss finished the last part quietly earning a shocked look from Neo. '… that's exactly what Ruby said…'

Neo got over her shock quickly and smirked at the heiress. "Fine I'll teach you, but I will teach you how I wish." She typed out making Ruby shudder slightly.

"I will never forget those times." She said with a far-off look in her eyes. She came out of it when she was elbowed by Neo.

With that the rest of detention was spent starting Weiss on the alphabet. Luckily for all involved she was a quick learner, so Neo figured it wouldn't take too long to teach her.

 **Break**

 _With Roman_

Boredom.

That was his existence right now. In his little cell there was absolutely nothing to do. They took his cane, his scroll, and his hat! That wasn't the biggest issue though. No, the things he missed the most right now were his cigars.

'The guards aren't any fun and I can't smoke. All the while Kyle and the girls are running about in the middle of a soon-to-be battlefield doing whatever they please. It's unfair I say!' Roman thought to himself before smiling. He had just thought of something that could entertain him, and maybe even get him his cigars back.

'Oh Kyleeeee~' He sang through their connection.

It took a few moments, but he eventually got an answer. 'What?' came the disgruntled voice of his partner. Curious.

'How would you feel about having some more excitement in your life?' The thief asked.

'I seriously don't need another thing on my plate right now Glynda's been… after me for the past few days.' He thought back.

'After you?'

'Well let's just say that I may have pushed a few too many of her buttons, and now she's pissed.' He thought with a sigh.

'As interesting as your love-life is I'm afraid I didn't call to talk about that.'

'Well you asked, but whatever. Why'd you call?'

'I'm giving you a warning and a preemptive apology.'

'For what?'

'You'll see.' The thief responded before cutting the link.

'Ironwood should soon be in for his daily attempt at interrogation.' Roman thought with a grin.

 _With Kyle_

'That isn't a warning!' He shouted over the link before realizing it had been cut. "Well I can't see this ending well." He muttered to himself before looking out from where he was hiding.

In the distance he could see an angry Goodwitch looking around the courtyard. Presumably still for him.

"Oh well I guess hide and seek was getting boring anyways." He muttered to himself before walking out into the opening. When she saw him, she quickly walked over.

"Do you have any idea how long we've been playing this stupid game of yours?!" She asked with a stern gaze.

"To be fair you're the one who started chasing me." He said with his hands raised.

"And that was your fault too. Now come on I'm not willing to cancel our class three days in a row." She said walking in a direction.

"I'm surprised you kept this up as long as you did especially with how strict you are about the classes." He said walking next to her.

"You're annoyingly difficult to ignore, and I need to keep an eye on you and your disciple anyways." She said before realizing exactly what she said.

"So, you've failed to keep track of Ruby for the past two days because you've been hellbent on chasing me." Kyle summed up not helping the situation any.

"I will kill you one of these days." She muttered darkly.

"I look forward to it." He replied rolling his eyes with a smile on his face. "Now that that's settled let's go get some food and see what our favorite students are up to." He said putting an arm around her shoulder and leading her to the mess hall.

"As teachers we aren't allowed to pick favorites from the students lest we be seen as biased." She reminded him removing his arm from around her.

"But we are biased. You know I don't personally care about any students aside from a select few." He said raising an eyebrow at her.

"You may be biased, but I have an example to set for the rest of the staff, so I will remain unbiased in my opinion of the students."

"You can say what you wish, but we both know you like a certain girl with a red cloak more than some of her other peers." He said smirking.

"I do not see or treat Ruby any differently than I would any other student." She said crossing her arms.

"Then why'd you just call her by her first name when every other student is called Mr. or Ms. insert last name here?" He asked grinning.

At this Glynda paused realizing just what he was saying.

"That's not all, but she's also the only student I've seen you let call you by your first name."

Unfortunately for her she couldn't dispute what he had said. 'Have I really gotten that close to Ru-… it seems I have.' She thought to herself.

"Don't worry too much about it. You haven't been interacting with the other staff members recently, so I doubt they've noticed." He said with a shrug. She had been busy with the Vytal festival, students from other academies arriving, and the disaster that is Kyle and Ruby. And recently the Neo girl.

With a great sigh she closed her eyes and tried regaining her composure. "Alright let's get something to eat and see what trouble that student of yours has gotten into recently." She said after a minute.

"After you." He said gesturing forward. 'I hope Roman doesn't do anything too stupid the opening ceremony for the festival starts in a few hours.' At this point he realized that they wouldn't be having class tomorrow, or for the rest of the week because of the festival. He smiled to himself. 'The look on her face should be amazing when she realizes we won't be having class at all this week, and right before a combat tournament of all things how ironic.'

 _With RWBY and PNJR_

The two sister teams were eating together like they usually did, but the members of PNJR could tell something was up with the RWBY girls. There was a tension in the air around them. Well most of PNJR could tell with the exception being Jaune who was rather oblivious. Even Nora was quieter than usual looking between the girls across from them.

Part of the tension seemed to be because of an extra person at their table. Neo was going over the alphabet again at Weiss' request. Said girl was sitting between Ruby and Weiss with Blake and Yang on Weiss' other side.

Pyrrha looked between her three teammates. Ren met her gaze but shrugged. He didn't know what was up either. Looking back to those across from them she looked at Ruby who was watching Weiss and Neo with a small smile.

"Ruby could I talk to you alone for a moment?" She asked causing everyone at the table to look at her. She smiled awkwardly at them before looking back to Ruby who was also staring.

"Sure." She said after a moment.

Without saying anything else the two stood up and walked outside of the cafeteria only to run in to their combat professors.

"Oh, hey Kyle I haven't seen you in like two days." Ruby said to the approaching teachers.

"Been busy." He said with a shrug. "What about you anything new?"

"Nothing too much I can tell you about it later, but for now Pyrrha wanted to talk to me." She said gesturing towards the girl behind her who looked nervous for some reason.

Even after being in their class for so long it didn't change the fact that Beacon's arguably two scariest teachers were both staring at her.

After a moment passed Kyle looked back towards Ruby. "Just don't do anything stupid." He said ruffling her hair getting a pout from the cloaked girl.

With his piece said the two professors continued on their way and entered the cafeteria.

After they had left Ruby looked back to Pyrrha. "Where do you wanna talk?" She asked.

"The where doesn't really matter I just wanted to ask you about how you and your team are doing because there seems to be a… tension surrounding your team." Pyrrha said as they started walking again.

"Well… I guess you could say we had a bit of a falling out maybe?" She said unsure of how to put it. "They learned a bit about my and Kyle's past that they didn't particularly like." She finished with a noncommittal shrug.

"I see… is there anything you guys need? We're always willing to help." Pyrrha offered with a smile.

Ruby's scroll went off. "The ceremony is starting soon we should probably get going. As for your offer… I'm happy you're willing to help, but I think this might be something we need to sort out together as a team." Ruby told the champion.

"Right… well just know that the offer is still available just in case." She said smiling again.

With that done they started walking back to the cafeteria to fetch their teams.

"Are you looking forward to the tournament?" Pyrrha asked.

"I have a feeling it'll be fun." Ruby said. 'At least for a while.' "What about you? How do you think your team will do?"

"We've got a good variety of skills. Ren is quick and agile. Nora has plenty of firepower, and Jaune is the team's main strategist." She said making Ruby look at her.

"He's the main strategist?" She asked.

"Yes, despite my… impressive record in tournaments I've never been shall we say… a team player, so I don't always know what plan will work best for different situations for the team. Jaune on the other hand seems to have a knack for it. I dare say that he might've made a better leader than me." Pyrrha answered honestly.

"Strategy isn't the only way to judge a leader." Ruby said shaking her head.

"What do you mean exactly?" Pyrrha asked.

"Strategy is important, and having a strategic leader is helpful, don't get me wrong, but you have something that I personally haven't seen in Jaune. You have charisma to lead your team. You have combat experience that the rest of your team probably doesn't. Add on to that your skills and abilities. Even if it is purely from tournament fighting. Those are all things he could pick up over time, but if the moment comes and he isn't ready for it… what then? Maybe given time he could be a better team leader than the both of us combined because let's face it, I haven't been the shining example of a team leader myself, but the world isn't just going to give him that time. The world is cruel… if he can naturally grow into a leadership role then great, but right now you're the best pick between them, so continue what you've been doing. Help them grow, help yourself grow, continue your training with Jaune." Ruby said, the last part surprising the older girl.

"How'd you know about that?" She asked somewhat nervously. They had been meeting out on the roof at night, and she was certain no one had seen them, but apparently that wasn't the case.

"I'm more observant than I look." Ruby said with a smirk. "And I think everyone has figured you out on your crush too. Aside from Jaune himself." She said shaking her head.

Pyrrha now realized that maybe she wasn't as subtle as she thought she was and couldn't help the pink tinting her cheeks.

"Anyways give yourself more credit, from the bits and pieces I've seen you've done a good job leading them. You guys almost remind me of a family." She said with a small smile. It might've been fun if RWBY could be like that, but she had long since accepted that her teammates would probably never accept her… views when it came to certain things. Weiss seemed able to tolerate them, or certain ones, but she wasn't like Neo. Neo would personally assist on a less than legal mission if asked, and probably with a smile on her face. She couldn't see any of her teammates doing something like that.

Pyrrha noticed the slight frown the cloaked girl now wore but didn't question yet since they had gotten to the cafeteria.

Opening the doors, they found that most of the teams had cleared out and presumably started heading towards the opening ceremony. Their other teammates looked over to them with varying looks ranging from happiness to sadness to pity. The happy ones were mostly from the members of PNJR.

Ruby also noticed that Kyle and Glynda were also eating, but they were sitting a little way away from the two teams.

"Alright guys we have that ceremony starting soon, so we should probably get going." Ruby said getting nods from the others. Neo and Weiss stood up and walked over to the crimsonette while Blake and Yang did the same, but at a slightly slower place. The rest of PNJR also stood and the group made their way to the auditorium.

This left the cafeteria almost empty apart from two professors.

"Well that was the last of them." Kyle said placing his head on his hand. "Shouldn't you be getting to the ceremony as well?" He asked only for the Goodwitch to shake her head.

"Because of your little stunt at the initial initiation ceremony you aren't allowed to participate in this one because not all of the students from the other schools have found out that an assassin works here, and while that's all well and good we don't want you to be left alone without any supervision." Glynda said with a smug smile.

"I have a babysitter then? Can't say I've ever had one of those before." He said with a short laugh. "Were you assigned for this little job, and is the pay any good?"

"No, I volunteered. I don't mean to boast, but I'm probably the only staff member suited to look after you. The headmaster could do it, but he has to be at the ceremony, so that leaves me." She said with a sweet yet off smile.

"Well I don't think I could ask for a better babysitter. I might actually behave." He said with a smile before yawning. "Although since we're both done for the day I might head off to bed. I haven't exactly caught up on sleep since you were chasing me around the school for the past thirty-six or so hours."

"I was hoping you'd say that. I'm exhausted as well." She said standing up.

The two then left to head back to the teacher's dormitory. It was fairly quiet as they made their way through the school grounds. Apparently, the universe didn't like that thought.

"Reaper! Stop where you are and put your hands in the air where we can see them." Came a familiar voice.

Kyle and Glynda both turned to see the Atlesian general along with fifteen of his men.

"And what exactly am I being arrested for? In the eyes of Vale and the headmaster I'm under house arrest here. Voluntary I might add." Kyle said already tired of this. He truly wanted nothing more than to get some sleep.

"We have received a tip that you are working in collaboration with criminals to bring about trouble in Vale." The general said glaring at the other man.

Glynda looked between the two for a moment before resting her gaze on the reaper.

"Don't look at me I'm actually innocent this time." He muttered to her before looking to the general. "Jimmy please do tell who exactly I am said to be working with."

If the nickname had any effect on him the general didn't show it. "After weeks of questioning Roman Torchwick has admitted that the two of you were working together."

'This is your idea of fun?' Kyle asked over the link.

'Well I'd say the look on the general's face was entertaining enough for me, and I got a cigar out of it, so all in all I'm pretty happy.'

'I can imagine.' The reaper deadpanned before looking to the general. "So, based off his word. The word of a man you've been interrogating for weeks. A well-known thief and conman. You believe that I'm in league with him with whatever it is he might be doing?" He asked making sure he got everything.

"… Yes, that would be the case." James said after a pause.

"Is this serious James? You can't think that the word of a thief and conman would warrant something like this." Glynda said gesturing to his 'posse'.

"With how dire times have been recently it is merely a safety measure in place in case he tried to resist arrest." He defended. "You should be assisting me in bring him in rather than question my actions."

"What did Professor Ozpin have to say about this 'tip' of yours?" She asked.

"I… have yet to inform him since he is at the ceremony right now. The plan was to lock this killer up and then inform Ozpin of the situation at a later time." He said slightly quieter.

"Leave James." She said softly making the general look up.

"But we can't let him continue to walk free. Now that he knows we're after him he's a major flight risk." James yelled trying to talk some sense into his colleague.

"Bring this situation up with Ozpin and see what he says. I will personally see to it that he stays here at Beacon." She said leveling a glare at the esteemed general. "You may be in charge of the security for the festival, but as long as we're on school grounds Professor Ozpin still has full control, so if he agrees with you on this tip then you may attempt your arrest, but for now leave."

Kyle widened his eyes a bit at this. Sure, they were close, but he never thought she'd actually stand up for him against someone she's known for much longer. Even though she didn't seem particularly fond of him.

The general looked stunned too, but begrudgingly accepted what the strict witch said.

"Very well. I expect you to hold up your end in keeping him here." He said before walking away. His soldiers following.

Glynda turned back to Kyle, and was about to say something, but he stopped her with a small hug then a smile. "Thanks Glynda. I never thought you'd do something like that for, like the general said, a killer."

"It isn't something I'd normally do, but it seems you're the exception. Besides I'm still annoyed at that man for brining a fleet to a festival meant to promote peace." She said the latter part with a frown.

"Well I guess that just makes me special." He said causing her to roll her eyes.

"Let's hurry to bed this has made me even more tired." She said beginning to walk again.

When they reached their hall, they stopped at his door. Well he paused, she seemed to be waiting for something.

"Well I'll see you tomorrow?" He said somewhat confused.

"What's the face for? I promised James that I'd make sure you didn't run off overnight, so I have to stay with you." She said opening his door. Of course her scroll had access to his door for some reason.

He just chuckled to himself before following her in. "You couldn't stop me even if I did run."

"Maybe not me personally, but I don't think you'd want to leave Ruby here all on her lonesome, and besides… some of us here have grown rather fond of your company." She admitted.

"Well maybe I've grown fond of a few people here myself." He said as he started dressing for bed. Glynda had done the same and gotten into the bed. "No sex this time though I'm too tired." The reaper said causing the goodwitch to roll her eyes.

"Don't count on that kind of stuff happening again. I may very well make it a one-time thing." She said placing her glasses on the nightstand next to her.

 **A/N: It's been a while hasn't it. I wrote the beginning of this chapter a while back, but wrote the rest of it a day or so ago when I had some free time. Anyways I hope you all enjoyed. Who saw Neo and Weiss _ever_ interacting with each other quite like this? I didn't.**

 **Hmm congrats to Videocrazy, JustAnotherAuthor64, and Rex Caldoran for figuring out Weiss' weapon is the Blade of Woe from Skyrim. I thought I'd get some weird feedback from adding something like that, but feedback has been pretty chill. Also I guess I'm not as bad as describing as I thought, but maybe it was just the name Idk.**

 **Reviews hmm...**

 **Did Weiss overreact to being late? Maybe but it was funny, and doesn't it just show how in order her priorities are? Anyways thanks to everyone who reviewed, I smiled at most of them and laughed at a few others.**

 **Why was mama Schnee killed indeed. Only time will really tell if that will cause any other conflicts.**

 **I may be shipping Neo and Ruby, but I admit the Whiterose, both friendship and romance, is usually pretty cute, so I like it.**

 **jmartinez: I do like the idea, the biggest question I'd have to answer is where to put something like that, but that'll be something I keep in mind for the future.**

 **Kharaki you're right Yang's opposition to one of Ruby's... pastimes, disturbing as it may be, is very strong. Are you right? Has she personally experienced the soul-crushing guilt of murder, or even just killing? Is she terrified of how her dearest little sister treats something that may have haunted her like a game or hobby? Oh the many questions we can ask ourselves.**

 **Again I'm glad that most of you seemed to enjoy the last chapter, and I hope you enjoyed this one too.**

 **I believe that's everything? Maybe? We'll see.**

 **As you can guess next chapter starts the tournament, but for now that's all.**

 **Follow, Favorite, Review, and whatever else you all do.**

 **~Laz out.**


	26. Chapter 26

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY.**

 **Also side note: Some things are skipped in the team fights because either they were similar to their canon counterparts or just weren't important, so yeah.**

Chapter 25

 _ABRN Vs. RWBY_

Team RWBY's first match was against Haven's Team ABRN, and even with the small rift in the team everyone was fighting well.

Ruby was looking at her teammates fighting different members of ABRN. For some reason the guy with pink hair and an assault rifle decided to try close combat with the young scythe-user, but she wasn't one to judge people. With a few well-placed cuts and a lot of force he was knocked out of the ring with his aura in the red, resulting in a double knockout.

Yang seemed to be trading blows just fine with a dark-skinned girl with platinum blonde hair. 'She's even with Yang without the use of her weapon? That's pretty impressive.' She thought to herself before looking to Weiss.

Weiss was holding off a rather bland looking guy with a staff but looked to be on the defensive at the moment. Seeking to rectify that, Ruby appeared a few meters behind him and caught Weiss' eye. With a nod from the heiress Ruby aimed for the center of his back and fired. The unexpected attack dropped his aura by a bit and threw him forward straight into the heiress. With the help of a force glyph young Bolin was thrown out of the ring.

"Nice job Weiss." Ruby said with a smile.

Weiss responded with her own smaller smile and nodded.

With that out of the way Ruby finally took notice of Blake and her opponent… who was fighting with a hoverboard! Ruby's eyes lit up and she looked towards Weiss.

"Weiss, she has a HOVERBOARD!" She shouted in the heiress' ear.

"Are you seriously just now noticing that?" Weiss asked with a frown.

"Hey, I was a little distracted with that guy charging me right when the match started." Ruby defended before smiling again. "Do you think she'll teach me how to make one?"

"Why on Remnant would you want a hoverboard? You already have two weapons, and neither them nor your semblance would work well on a hoverboard." She said.

"It doesn't have to be a weapon I could just use it to fly around if I'm ever tired of walking."

"Ruby you could probably walk for days without getting tired. You'd get bored far sooner than you'd get tired."

"But Weissss think about the possibilities." The red reaper pleaded.

"I still don't see the point, but if you're this set on it then I can't stop you from asking her. Just remember if she says no you aren't allowed to try and threaten her." Her partner said firmly.

"I would use the term 'convince with violence'." Ruby said with a nod. "But fine I won't bother her if she turns me down." She finished glumly.

"Cheer up even if she does say no, then you could still probably make one, and I'll even help you out with the dust if need be." Weiss offered cheering the rose right up.

During their little conversation the fight was still going, and the announcers were doing their thing.

"Well Professor-"

"Doctor."

"What do you make of Team ABRN's current situation?" Professor Port asked his green-haired partner in crime.

"Well Peter I will admit that their tournament run may very well end right here. With just Ms. Chloris and Ms. Atlan left against the four members of Team RWBY I can't see very many possibilities for a comeback. As it stands, they're lucky that Ms. Rose and Ms. Schnee seem to be content to watch the other two, or… talk amongst themselves." He finished slower than normal.

"The other girls of RWBY might not need the assistance after all." Port said as Blake tricked Reese with a clone and knocked her out of the ring. "It's all down to the leader of ABRN, but I'm still not sure what she can do against the four healthy members of RWBY."

Arslan while fighting with Yang could see each of her teammates get picked off one at a time but being locked in this fist fight, there wasn't much she could do to assist them.

Yang threw a punch to her head, but Arslan ducked and grabbed the blonde's arm then threw her across the ring and into a red dust stalagmite that exploded upon the impact.

'Well I don't think she'll get up quickly, but it's amazing that didn't finish off her aura.' Arslan thought as she tried to turn around. Emphasis on tried.

Below her was a black glyph keeping her in place, and just as suddenly as the glyph appeared, Ruby appeared.

Ruby hooked her scythe around Arslan's front and stood back to back with the larger girl. She pulled the scythe towards herself to keep the blonde from trying to move.

"That was a pretty good shot on Yang." She commented lazily as she drained the other girl's aura. "Imagine what could happen right now with Just. One. Shot." She added on making Arslan widen her eyes.

"But that'd create all kinds of trouble wouldn't it?" Ruby asked as the buzzer sounded and Arslan was considered knocked out. Removing the scythe from around the other girl she calmly put it away then looked to Arslan. "You fought against my sister pretty well. If your other teammates hadn't lost so quickly then you might've stood a better chance, but good match." She said sticking her hand out.

After a moment's hesitation she took the offered hand. "So, you're the little reaper that defeated the Invincible Girl." She said confusing Ruby slightly.

"How'd you know about that?" She asked. Had word about their spar spread that much?

"You've been the talk of the school ever since it happened, and there are rumors and stories that have been floating around your team since even before the rest of us arrived."

"Well I didn't expect that, but I guess I just never really payed attention to the whispers of those around me." Ruby shrugged. "Oh, by the way I want to talk to the skater girl."

Arslan laughed a bit. 'This is the same girl that people here are afraid to fight in _supervised_ fights? But then again there is what she said earlier…' Arslan thought trying to figure out the red-cloaked girl. "You can talk to her after we clear the arena. I believe they do have other matches that we are holding up."

Ruby looked around and saw that they were the only two still out there. "Alright we'll catch up after this." She said before walking towards her team's tunnel. It may be known to most people in the school, but in case anyone didn't know of her semblance there was no reason to give that away.

Arslan shook her head with a smile before heading back to her own team's tunnel. 'What an interesting girl.'

When she got to the locker room Ruby found the rest of her team waiting for her. "So, how'd it go?" Weiss asked.

"She seems nice and I told her we'd meet up once we finished changing." She answered.

"Weren't we supposed to meet up with PNJR after our match?" Blake asked.

"We can all meet up and eat together, if they want to of course." Ruby added on.

Yang was merely watching her sister? And trying to figure the girl out. 'She admitted to killing and pretty much enjoying it, but she's still acting like Ruby… Is this just who she is now? A happy bubbly killer training to be a huntress?' She was too lost in her own thoughts to realize that the rest of her team was staring at her. "Huh… what?"

"Are you ready to go?" Blake asked.

"Oh yeah I am." Yang nodded as she followed her team out.

When they met up with PNJR and then ABRN the group walked over to a noodle stand.

'Hey it's the From Dust til Dawn guy.' Ruby thought absentmindedly as the group sat down.

Ruby was sitting between Weiss and Reese.

"Just for introductions sake, PNJR this is team ABRN, ABRN this is PNJR." Ruby said to the group.

"I guess we'll go first. Hello I'm Pyrrha." She said with a small wave.

"I'm her partner Jaune Arc."

"Don't forget about NORA!" Said person shouted jumping up.

"And I'm Lie Ren." He said dragging Nora back into her seat.

"Arslan Atlan leader of Team ABRN."

"Yo what's up I'm her partner Reese Chloris." She said holding up a peace sign.

"I'm Nadir."

"Bolin."

"And in case anyone didn't know I'm Ruby."

"Weiss Schnee."

"Blake."

"And I'm Yang."

Ruby was tapped on the shoulder. Turning behind her, she saw an amused Neo.

"Oh and everyone this is Neo." She added on making Blake and Yang frown.

"Now that that's over with Ruby why'd you ask us to join you guys?" Reese asked.

Ruby laughed nervously and rubbed the back of her head. "Well I actually wanted to talk to you about your hoverboard, and since we were eating with PNJR I just thought we could all get something to eat while we talk."

Weiss would've facepalmed at her partner's love of weapons, but she had already mentally done so during the match. Neo on the other hand looked intrigued.

"Oh is that all? Well what do you want to know about it?" Reese asked.

"I was wondering how you made it." Ruby answered.

While they began talking about the ins and outs of hoverboard creation the rest of the group were now talking amongst each other.

"Do you guys think you're ready for your first match?" Arslan asked her fellow leader.

"I hope we can perform with the same standards as our sister team here." Pyrrha answered.

"I can't say I know much about the team you guys are facing since they're from Shade and not Haven."

"Please don't worry about that I believe that we will do just fine."

"If you say so, I just don't want to see your team get knocked out as easily as ours did." Arslan said to the champion. "We had a feeling this would be a tough fight with the rumors around that team, but they absolutely tore us apart." She finished shaking her head.

Pyrrha looked over at team RWBY. Ruby was still talking to Reese with Weiss and the Neo girl listening in. Yang seemed to be having a noodle eating contest with Nora while Blake and Ren watched. "I knew they were strong…" She started catching Arslan's attention. "but it only hit me recently when Ruby beat me in that spar. It only then clicked that they're probably a stronger team than ours. I saw us as even for the most part, but if they work together, I don't think PNJR would win. Their individual talent outclasses our own, and they have a much more diverse way of fighting."

"They'll be a tough fight, but for some reason I feel that you're looking forward to it." Arslan said with a smirk.

"Of course I am." Pyrrha said with her own smile.

 _The Crow Bar_

Team SSSN had just defeated Team NDGO after PNJR's win against BRNZ, and the one bar patron didn't seem impressed at all.

"So what about them?" The bartender asked getting a grunt from the man. "Well you didn't like these guys or the match prior. The only one you half payed attention to was the first match."

"Yes, and it ended about how I thought it would." Qrow said with a gruff voice. 'She's definitely gotten strong, but what were the costs?' He thought to himself before hearing a ship pass. When he looked back, he saw a very familiar sleek white Atlesian ship. 'This might be a good distraction messing with the ice queen always improves my mood.'

Without saying anything else Qrow stood and left some lien on the counter before leaving.

 _With Ruby, Neo, and Weiss_

At some point the group split off to do different things, and from the fairgrounds Weiss recognized an incoming ship. "Ruby, Neo follow me." She said before running off.

The two looked at each other skeptically before shrugging and following.

When they caught up, they saw Weiss walking up to a taller girl who looked a lot like Weiss.

"Winter it's so good to see you." Weiss said with a smile.

"It's been quite some time since I was last here." The elder Schnee said with a frown. "I've never personally cared for this academy."

Weiss looked down for a second before responding. "Every huntsmen academy can't be Atlas."

"That's true." Winter admitted before signaling her entourage to back away. Once they did, Winter sighed.

"How are you doing Weiss?" She asked with a warmer tone than before.

"I am doing well thank you. I've made some… interesting friends." Weiss said looking towards Ruby and Neo who were smiling awkwardly.

"I'm glad to hear it, so which one is the leader you wrote of in your letters?" Winter asked.

"That would be me. I do hope Weiss hasn't written anything too negative about me." Ruby said eyeing Weiss who subtly rolled her eyes.

"It was mostly good I swear." Weiss said.

"What does mostly mean? Oh Oum what'd you tell her?" Ruby asked.

Winter was watching the exchange with the smallest hint of a smile. "Ruby Rose." She said getting the groups attention. "Thank you for giving my sister a chance even with her icy exterior."

"There's really no need to thank me for that. We didn't get off to the best start, but I think we've become friends." She said leaving it as a question while looking towards Weiss.

"Yes you're my friend." Weiss answered crossing her arms. "It's insulting to think you'd question that."

"I was just messing with you." Ruby laughed throwing an arm around Weiss.

While all this was happening, Winter looked towards the other girl with them. "And who might this be?"

"Oh! That's Neo my girlfriend." Ruby answered for them.

"I see. Are you also friends with my sister?" She asked Neo.

Neo gave a noncommittal shrug before looking at Ruby.

"It's currently a work in progress." Ruby translated.

"Sorry about her indirect answer she can't speak." Weiss added answering Winter's unvoiced question.

"Well I'm happy to meet some of your friends both current and potential. I need to report to the general, but I did arrive early, so why don't you all show me your quarters?" Winter suggested.

The group started walking with the soldiers and droids close behind.

"Don't worry, the bunkbeds only look unstable." Weiss explained to her sister.

"Bunkbeds?"

Before they could continue that train of thought they heard the sound of metal hitting the ground.

They turned to see Qrow having just destroyed two droids.

"You." Winter said coldly.

"Me?" Qrow half asked.

"You do realize that you just destroyed Atlas technology."

"Sorry I must not be thinking straight they looked like tin cans someone just stacked up. Had to knock the pile down." He said with a shrug.

While they were talking Weiss and Neo looked to Ruby.

Her face was completely blank. 'He's been drinking to make himself feel better and now he's picking a fight.' She thought with a small amused smile. 'That's definitely something I would do if my kid basically told me to fuck off… Well maybe not the drinking part, but the fighting part definitely. This might be interesting if he really wants to fight this. After all Winter seems strong herself.'

Ruby had been thinking to herself for a tad too long it seems because when she looked over Winter wasn't next to them and was instead attacking the drunken crow.

"Ruby why is your… dad picking a fight with my sister?" Weiss asked carefully.

"I believe that he isn't quite over our conversation from the other night, so now he wants to distract himself." Ruby guessed.

"That's all well and good." Weiss started as the two were darting around. "But why specifically my sister?"

"I… actually don't know." Ruby said with a shrug. "Maybe it's a coincidence, or maybe they know each other somehow. You know what they say it's a small world."

"Winter did seem to recognize him." Weiss admitted thinking back on it.

"Do you think someone should stop them they're destroying the courtyard." Neo signed looking rather bored.

"Stopping them isn't really my job." Ruby said with a shrug while explaining to the heiress what Neo had said. "Besides I feel like some teachers will show up before it gets too out of hand."

"Speak of the devil." Weiss said looking to an approaching Ozpin flanked by Goodwitch and Kyle.

"And the Calvary arrived." Neo signed sarcastically. Hand signs have never been so expressive.

"It doesn't look like we'll be giving your sister a tour." Ruby said to her partner.

"The general does look rather unhappy, doesn't he?" Weiss observed as the group walked away.

"Well this was a good learning experience." Ruby said with a smile.

"What makes you say that?" Neo asked.

"We got to see a bit of how they fight, and they're both pretty strong."

"You should've been able to see that from the start." The ice queen said.

"Maybe so, but any information can be useful. Well any accurate information can be useful." Ruby amended after a second.

"Regardless I think it might be wise to get ready for our match tomorrow." Weiss said.

"Get ready how? I mean we don't exactly know who we're facing, and we haven't seen a lot of the teams, so what exactly are you trying to do to prepare?"

"I don't believe any last-minute training will particularly help, but it would be a good idea to get some rest for tomorrow."

"Aww." Ruby said wiping a mock tear away. "And here I wanted us to have a spar just between us partners and besties." She said dramatically.

"One, we are friends and partners not besties." She said holding one finger up. "Two, where do you think we are going to spar? Most of the practice arenas have been filled for weeks, and the classrooms are all locked up. If we spar in public then we'd be giving away free information to the other teams."

"Maybe we could get into the class Glynda and Kyle use." Ruby suggested.

Weiss was about to shoot the idea down but thought for a few seconds. "If you're the one asking then they'd probably allow it."

"Does this mean you _do_ want to spar?" Ruby asked with an excited smile.

"I… _have_ been wanting a rematch since our first fight, but the randomization process has never been kind enough it seems." She answered.

"Is it alright if Neo is there to watch?"

"I don't mind, and one of the teachers will probably be there as well to make sure we don't cause any damage to the room."

"Alright let's do this thing!" Ruby said as she brought out her scroll.

 _Ozpin's Office_

"And I have reason to believe you don't need to be here. Seriously who invited her?" Qrow asked referring to Winter.

"He's right." Ironwood spoke up before Winter could retort. "Schnee return to the command ship and we will speak there."

"Sir." Winter said hesitantly before walking out and sending a glare to Qrow.

"Now then Qrow why did you provoke the young Schnee?" Ozpin asked.

"I've got a better question. What's he doing here." Qrow said gesturing towards the reaper who decided to sit down in one of Ozpin's chairs.

"Actually, that is something I was wondering as well." Ozpin said getting a slightly shocked look from Qrow.

Kyle and Glynda looked at the esteemed general who cleared his throat. "As you are aware the criminal Roman Torchwick is being held prisoner on one of my ships, and through an interrogation session, he revealed that he and this man were working together."

"To what end?" Ozpin asked bridging his hands together.

"Unfortunately he wouldn't give me anything specific towards that end." James said with a frown.

"Well Kyle is what he says true?" Ozpin asked.

"Not really. It's true I've come across Torchwick before, but it was usually when I was looking for someone." He answered.

"So you have worked with him in the past." The general stated.

"In my line of work, I've worked with or against just about everyone in the criminal underworld at one point or another, doesn't really matter everything is temporary. Friends are friends when convenient, and enemies are enemies until they're dead or we have a common problem."

"I see well James do you have any actual proof of Torchwick's claims?" Ozpin asked.

"… no, we don't currently have any other proof than Torchwick's own claims."

"This is a waste of time." Qrow said. "Even if it was true what would Torchwick get out of telling you this? Did you offer his freedom? Immunity from something?" He may have hated the reaper, but this whole thing was a waste of time.

"No… all he asked for in exchange was… a cigar." James admitted quieter than what was usual for the general.

"You got punked Jimmy." Qrow said finishing off what was left in his flask.

"We can't just ignore a claim like this. If it is true, then at the very least he needs to be detained and questioned."

"Well we just did that. He is currently being detained here on Beacon's campus, and we just asked him about it. If that's all I believe we have no reason to keep him up here." Ozpin said hiding a small smirk.

"If that's all I'll be on my way I'm not really interested in whatever little meeting the four of you plan on having." Kyle said standing up and walking to the elevator.

"Ozpin we need to be taking this seriously!" Ironwood exclaimed.

"James, I have no reason to detain a member of my staff on the claim of one criminal. Especially when there is no additional proof to said claim." Ozpin said before looking to the reaper. "Oh and Kyle you may be interested in this 'little meeting' of ours." He added getting shocked looks from everyone else in the room.

He half turned his head to look at the headmaster. "Why is that?"

"Oz you can't seriously be thinking about letting him sit in on this?" Qrow asked in disbelief.

"I'm afraid he already knows a majority of what we were going to discuss."

Qrow and Ironwood looked at Kyle in disbelief. "How does he know?" James asked.

"He wouldn't tell me that, just that he had heard some things in passing. Including her name."

"I don't trust this Oz." Qrow said glaring at the cloaked individual.

"Ozzy as much as I love hearing and telling stories I'm afraid I'm not overly interested in whatever little war you and your followers are waging behind the scenes." He said turning back towards the elevator.

"You may not be, but with who she is Ms. Rose will eventually be brought into this." Ozpin said receiving a glare from Qrow.

"I know she will, those eyes of hers are capable of a lot and were opened long ago." Kyle said not turning around. "For as long as need be, I will continue to help her, but eventually it'll be up to her and those with her." He finished walking into the elevator and leaving.

'So, he knew about the silver eyes as well, and if what he said is true then Ms. Rose already knows of her ability.' Ozpin thought curiously. 'Just where does he find this information? Is there really a leak in our circle, or is he playing for the other side? If he were aligned with Salem, then why would he train someone with silver eyes instead of eliminating the threat?'

The others in the room were thinking along the same line of thought.

"Glynda you will have to make sure to keep a close eye on him and the girl." Ironwood said looking towards the Goodwitch.

"He's just full of surprises, isn't he?" Glynda asked herself before acknowledging James. "I'm well aware that I need to keep an eye on them, but I doubt he'll share anything else unless he wants to."

 _With Kyle_

'I'm sure they'll enjoy chewing on that bone.' Kyle thought with a smirk. 'What'll they do with this new info I wonder.'

When he reached the base of the tower, he ran into three people he wasn't expecting to run into.

"What're you all doing here?" He asked.

"Well this is how it is." Ruby started. "Weiss and I are going into the next round of the tournament, and we wanted to have a proper fight in preparation to make sure we're ready."

"But why're you here?" He asked still confused.

"Neither you or Glynda were in your rooms or office, and the classroom you guys use was locked, so we thought we might find one of you here." The red reaper answered.

"You want to use our room then?" He asked before realizing something. 'I have an office?'

"Yes, if you don't mind." Weiss said.

"What about you Neo? Are you just hanging around to watch or what?"

She shrugged. "I have a good feeling about this fight."

"Well it might be entertaining, so sure." Kyle said with a shrug.

With that the group began walking towards the combat classroom. Ruby and Kyle were walking slightly ahead of the other two.

"You three seem a lot closer than I remember." He said quietly.

"A lot has happened over the past few days." Ruby said with a small nod.

"I take it she's the only one on your team who is still being friendly with you?"

"It's more than I thought it would be after that talk, so I'm actually kind of happy about it." She answered with a small smile.

"It's interesting, not many people like the idea of their friends being killers, so I take it you guys had a heart-to-heart or something?"

"Something like that." She nodded.

"Just remember someday one of us might get a contract to kill her." He reminded her. Making friends was important and good for her, but the closer you are to someone the tougher it'll be if their contract comes up.

"I know…" Ruby said with a small frown. "If it comes to that then I won't have a choice, but that's just life sometimes isn't it? And besides worst-case-scenario it'll be one hell of a fight."

"Yeah… yeah it will." He answered as he looked to the red rose. "You know… until you put the mask on it won't be official, so you still have time to change your mind about the reaper thing."

Ruby chuckled a bit. "I know it won't be easy, and sometimes it'll completely suck, but if I had any doubt about this then I would've left when you first told us about the reapers." She said pressing her hand to her mark. "It definitely isn't the path she would've like me to be on, but I think mom would be happy to know I've been able to grow up a bit… even if it was with the one who killed her."

"If you believe in what you're doing and stick to it then I think she'd be happy. We had our different beliefs, but in the end… she still decided to ask for my help." He said looking down a bit.

"You were kind of her only hope for me to make it back home." Ruby pointed out.

"That's true, but even so putting the life of your daughter in someone else's hands can't be easy."

"Regardless of any doubts we're still here today." Ruby said. "Probably haven't made the best decisions along the way, but I wouldn't change anything." She added with a smile. "Aside from the endurance training I think that could've been done differently."

"I thought that training worked pretty well. It was very entertaining." He said with a smile of his own.

"The scars on my shoulder and back think differently." She said.

"It taught you an important lesson didn't it? Don't let the Grimm catch you because I might not save you again." He said with a nostalgic look on his face.

"And you say I'm the sadist." Ruby said rolling her eyes.

"Are you claiming you aren't?" Kyle asked with an amused tone.

"I'm just saying that throwing a little girl in the woods and telling her to run away from the big scary Grimm isn't something a normal person would do."

"No maybe not, but you used a similar training with your team back when you guys first tried training together. It's unfortunate none of them kept with the program." He said with a shrug.

"I know I was kind of disappointed when they didn't want to continue the training but forcing them would be a waste. Can't teach someone who doesn't want to learn or something like that."

"Just shows that you were more committed. That or you just didn't use Grimm as an encouragement for them."

"I hate you." She said putting her head into her palm.

"I've heard that before." He said before opening the classroom door.

When everyone was inside Kyle noticed that Ruby and Weiss were both putting their main weapons off to the side with Neo.

"What're you both doing?" He asked.

"Well I managed to convince Weiss to use a little ace in the hole that she has." Ruby said with a grin while Weiss looked a tad nervous.

"An ace in the hole?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah… and just to be safe could you unlock one of the restraints?" She asked hopefully.

"… No… if you want to unlock the restraint then you can do it yourself." He said before looking to Weiss. "I'm curious what this trick of yours is."

Weiss still looked hesitant, with Neo and Kyle in the room the idea of using Woe was a lot less charming than Ruby had made it sound.

Ruby was thinking to herself on how to remove one of the restraints. 'Hmm… maybe it's something to do with controlling my aura a certain way?' She thought before gathering aura around her mark. It was a strange sensation to say the least, but it almost felt like she was turning a key inside a lock. After a few minutes she finally felt the restraint disappear. "That was a lot harder than I thought it'd be." She said leaning against a nearby wall for support.

"Yes, but now that you've unlocked it on your own it'll only relock if you want it to." Kyle said making her eyes widen.

"So, if I unlock the other two on my own then you won't relock them?"

"Unlocking them on your own is kind of like a checkpoint in your training if you will." He said confusing the young rose. "Go ahead and try unlocking the others if you think you can."

With a small shrug she tried to gather her aura around the mark like she had before but couldn't find the strange sensation from earlier.

"It looks like you're only ready for the first one." He said with a shrug. "If you want the others gone then you have to train more. Control your aura better and become stronger. That's how I'd personally do it."

"I'll keep up with the training then." Ruby said with a nod.

Weiss was watching in slight confusion. Ruby had never really answered any questions about the restraints, but now she was putting it together. 'Holding back power until she's ready to handle it, but how does something like that work?' She asked herself before realizing that everyone was now looking towards her.

Ruby was standing across from her with Mercy in her hands. "Well Weiss are you ready?" She asked.

"I'm not sure how comfortable I am with Neo and the professor watching." She admitted slowly.

"Weiss have a little faith in them. None of them will say anything about it once we leave this room right guys?" She asked looking around the room.

Neo gave a thumbs up while Kyle shrugged. "It probably isn't anything I haven't seen before." He said. 'Or remembered at some point. There's been some crazy shit that's happened in the lives of the past reapers.' He added on in thought.

"If you're sure." Weiss said slowly reaching into her bolero jacket and pulling out her dagger.

Kyle's eyebrows furrowed. 'Is that…?' "Weiss can you bring that dagger over here for a moment?"

Ruby gave him a look while she watched Weiss walk towards the reaper.

"It's… something I've been trying to keep hidden, but Ruby wanted to fight against it…" The heiress said sounding nervous.

"May I?" He asked.

After a minutes hesitation she finally handed him the dagger. Without a second thought he took the knife and stabbed it into his hand making everyone else's eyes widen.

"Well I'll be damned." He said pulling the knife out and using his aura to stem the bleeding. "It's been quite some time since I've seen this."

"Wait you've seen Woe before?" Weiss asked curiously.

"Yeah… you could say I knew the person who owned it back when she was alive." He said trying to word it carefully.

"Who owned it?" Ruby asked.

"Well you all probably know what this little guy is capable of, and I think Neo is the only one who just figured part of it out." He said nodding towards the befuddled girl. "The person who owned this blade was a woman named Astrid... She was an assassin back in the day, and this was her main weapon… I'm curious how you wound up with it, but I can't say that it's any of my business." He said handing the blade back to Weiss.

"Can you tell me anything about her? Who she was?" Weiss asked after a moment.

"She… was very big on family. If she considered you part of her family, then she'd put her life on the line to keep you safe as long as you weren't endangering the rest of the family… She lived as she died… doing what she thought was best for her family." He said with a small smile. 'An interesting reaper she had been… even to the point of sacrificing herself when one of her 'family' was named a contract.'

"Wow…" Ruby said looking at the dagger in Weiss' hand.

"… take it." Weiss said holding the blade out to the reaper. "It sounds like you knew her pretty well, and I think she'd rather have someone she knew had her weapon than some random stranger."

Kyle looked at the heiress curiously. 'I never thought I'd see a Schnee do something like this.' He thought before grinning. "Ms. Schnee, I believe you have a partner to fight, and it'd probably be difficult to do without a weapon." He said getting a confused look from the Schnee.

"I can just use Myrtanester there's-" She said before he cut her off.

"Like you said, I knew her pretty well, and I think she'd be happy to see her weapon in the hands of a girl like you." He could still see the confusion on her face. "I've been told that you want to become a huntress to change how people see your family. You want to restore your family name to what it once was before your father took over the business. I can't think of anyone better suited to wield that weapon than someone fighting for the betterment of her family."

"… thank you." Weiss said with a small smile. "Alright Ruby you wanted a fight you better be prepared because I won't be holding back." She said twirling the dagger.

'I wonder if she was somehow related to Astrid…' Kyle thought off-handedly. 'For the dagger to find its way to her after being 'lost' all this time… Who knows… magic weapons were always more difficult to find, and even more-so to create after the reset, but here it is.'

"Alright Weiss let's have some fun." Ruby said getting ready.

 **A/N: Well what do we have here?**

 **Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Throwback to one of my first chapters way back when. Will it end the same or will Weiss show us something interesting?**

 **We also have a bit more insight to just how old the reaper line is. If you haven't watched Volume 6 yet then... well what're you waiting for? It was a pretty good volume despite the lackluster final couple episodes. Regardless if you haven't seen it then you probably don't know what I'm talking about, but don't worry too much about it.**

 **Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed.**

 **Specifically to the reviews let's see.**

 **Lots of things about Whiterose. For anyone who doesn't know yet have no fears this is Ruby x Neo and Whiterose is just a friendship here.**

 **The security thing. Well you know how lax Beacon security is in the show, and I said Ironwood handled security over the festival, but Ozpin still has full control over Beacon, so I guess I have the two separated in a way. Ironwood specifically with the fairgrounds and surrounding area along with the arena, but inside the school Ozpin is still in control.**

 **Videocrazy you're right PNJR is very weak when it comes to range as was exhibited by their fight against team BRNZ in the show. To take care of the sniper they had to knock the three melees right into her.**

 **KHARAKI the Blade of Woe in Skyrim is pretty useful for a dagger. If I remember right, it had the highest base attack stat among the daggers that the player can have, and it had a lifesteal enchantment. It isn't a great weapon by any means, but it isn't terrible either. I personally think it is one of the cooler designs as far as weapons in that game goes.**

 **Anyways like always follow, favorite, review, and whatever else you all do.**

 **See you all next time**

 **-Laz**


	27. Chapter 27

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY**

 **Brief warning there will be a scene in here that some people might not feel comfortable with. It isn't very long, but if you're reading and you start having that uncomfortable gut feeling then scroll past a bit.**

Chapter 26

 _A few hours later with Ruby and Neo_

"So why're we here again?" Ruby asked as she followed Neo through downtown Vale.

"It's a surprise." Neo signed with a giddy smile.

"Whatever you say, but it can't take too long I have that fight tomorrow." She said looking around.

Neo didn't give any response aside from a nod. After walking for a few more minutes down some different streets Ruby started to get an idea as to where they were heading. Another few minutes and Neo stopped in front of a warehouse she hadn't visited in quite a while.

"Neo what're we doing here?" She asked only to receive no answer.

Neo opened one of the doors and led the red reaper into a seemingly empty warehouse. Walking straight to another door towards the back of the warehouse she stopped in front of it and turned to Ruby.

"Are you ready?" She signed.

"Yep what'd you drag me out here for?" Ruby asked popping the 'p'.

Neo opened the door to reveal something that Ruby hadn't quite been expecting, but at the same time wasn't too surprising considering who her girlfriend was. In the center of the room bound to a chair was none other than a blindfolded Mercury Black.

"Whoever you are, let me out of here!" Mercury yelled as he struggled against the surprisingly strong chains that kept him firmly attached to the chair.

Ruby raised an eyebrow at Neo who just smiled happily at her.

"You want to know the rest of their plans, and he probably has the answers I don't." She signed.

Ruby made an 'ah' face while nodding slightly. Slowly she walked up to the bound man and let a finger lazily fall down his cheek causing him to freeze.

After a moment she lifted the blindfold off and looked into his confused eyes.

"Ruby? Neo? Help me get out of here!" He said after his sight focused.

"We would love to let you out, but first I was hoping you could answer a few questions for little old me." Ruby said innocently while Neo walked somewhere out of sight.

"What? There's no time for this crap just get me out of here." He said a bit more forcefully.

"Oh I think we have plenty of time." Ruby said with smile.

"The person who kidnapped me could come back any second we need to get out of here." He tried again.

Ruby paused for a moment. 'He doesn't know does he…' "You're absolutely right." She said making him sigh in relief. "The person who kidnapped you is already back here in this very room."

It took him a second before his eyes widened slightly and he started struggling once more.

"Don't worry Merc Merc. Just answer my questions and you'll be free as a bird." Ruby said making a bird with her hands.

"I have nothing to say to you." Mercury said coldly.

"I see that's too bad." Ruby said looking back to Neo who was returning with some rope with some kind of knot on the end of it. It doesn't take a genius to figure out where this is going. 'Not what I was expecting… what're we going to do with that?' She asked herself before signing the same thing to Neo.

Neo started twirling the knot around picking up speed before hitting the concrete ground below them.

"Ahh." Ruby said as Mercury just laughed.

"If you think I'll talk just because you bitches hit me with a rope you're in for a disappointment."

Ruby frowned at his response. "Neo could I see that for a moment?" She asked politely.

Neo nodded and handed her the rope before walking off again.

Giving it an experimental twirl Ruby nodded to herself. Spinning it quickly she struck one of his legs only to hear an odd 'thunk'. Narrowing her eyes slightly she tried again hitting the other leg. Mercury just had a smirk on his face as the same thing happened.

That smile dropped when Ruby set the rope down and put her hand on his legs. Without a second thought she used Mercy to slice his pantleg open and gasped when she saw his leg. She quickly did the same to the other leg and was silent.

Mercury just shook his head. "What's the matter never seen a prosthetic before?"

'Oh my god! They're so cool!' Ruby cheered as her inner weapon nut came out completely ignoring whatever Mercury was saying.

Neo had just come back with another chair with a raised eyebrow. She was about to ask what was wrong with her red lover before it clicked, and she just gave a soft smile. 'She's too cute.' She thought.

Within minutes Ruby had completely unattached his legs from his body and set them off to the side. She looked like a giddy child on Christmas morning.

Neo tapped her shoulder to refocus the little reaper.

"Sorry Neo, I just really want to take a closer look at these." She said awkwardly rubbing the back of her head.

Neo nodded back to the now legless Mercury who was still trying to get loose.

"Right sorry." Ruby said before seeing the other chair that Neo had brought back. It was a little wooden thing with the center cut out of it. "What's the chair for?"

"Oh my dear sweet innocent Ruby." Neo signed hiding a smirk at her pout. "There are many ways to cause a man pain, and with that" She pointed to the rope on the floor. "There's a very fun and efficient way to do it." She finished as her grin darkened.

Ruby thought about it and looked between the chair, the rope, and the struggling Mercury before her eyes widened.

"Eww." She said sticking her tongue out.

Neo just rolled her eyes and used her parasol to… calm… the previously struggling boy.

"How much did you drain his aura?" Ruby asked seeing him knocked out so easily.

Neo shrugged before going about making all the preparations.

When Mercury woke back up a few minutes later he was in a different chair and was noticeably colder. Looking down he saw he was naked.

"Alright let's start this over." Ruby said getting his attention. She was pointedly looking at his face. "Will you cooperate? Or will you let Neo have her fun?" Ruby asked before looking to the smiling psychopath who was happily twirling the knotted rope. "I'm honestly fine with either." She added with a shrug.

"What the hell is wrong with you? No huntress would ever do something like this!" Mercury exclaimed.

"Well of course not that's why right now I'm not a huntress-in-training. This will get results one way or another, so I will support my girlfriend in her late-night endeavors." She said with a smile. "Anyways back on track, what is Cinder's plan? Why is all of this really happening?" She asked narrowing her eyes.

"I'm not talking." Mercury responded with a scowl.

"Go ahead Neo." Ruby said.

Neo who had been twirling the rope lazily nodded and hit the poor merc from where the bottom of the chair should've been.

"AHHHHH." He screamed before he started breathing heavily.

"Want to talk?" The mini reaper asked tilting her head.

"…No…" He said between breathes.

"Your choice then. Neo."

At the call of her name Neo repeated the process spinning the rope faster before hitting him again and again… and again... With each hit Mercury's screams grew hoarser and hoarser.

Holding her hand up Neo stopped her assault.

"Sooooooo?" Ruby asked. "Ready to talk?"

"…No… I won't… break… from something… like this…" He said glaring at the girl across from him who had decided to sit in the chair he had originally been bound to.

"Hmm Neo as fun as it would be to completely bust his man-parts like you're doing we might need to step this up a bit." She said narrowing her eyes.

"There's nothing… you two can do… that's worse than what my old man did…" He said as his breathing became more controlled.

"Is he responsible for your legs?" Ruby asked her hand slowly moving to the hidden Mercy.

Mercury just looked away. 'That's a yes if I've ever seen one.' Ruby thought shaking her head.

"I can't imagine what it's like loosing a limb or two. In fact, the idea of not having arms or legs… that's something I'd never want to experience." Ruby said pulling Mercy out and separating the blades. "And yet that might be just what we need to do here." She finished icily walking up to the assassin.

Mercury just scowled at her. "You wouldn't. You don't have the stones for something like that."

"Have you forgotten our dear friend Cardin?" Ruby asked getting closer to his face. "That was in front of an entire cafeteria of future huntsmen and huntresses. Here there's no one to bat an eye at what's happening." She finished slowly pushing one of Mercy's blades into his arm. "You're out of aura Merc, at best you'll bleed out before I finish. At worst…"

Mercury was staring at the blade going deeper and deeper into his arm and clenching his teeth. "Fine!" He yelled making her pause. "Just don't… I can't go through that again…" He said hollowly looking at his stumps.

"What's Cinder's goal at Beacon?" Ruby asked applying pressure to her blade.

"…She's looking for the fall maiden…" He said with a sigh.

"What's the Vytal festival have to do with that?"

"Neo should've told you that… every kingdom is watching the festival… if something were to go wrong it'll cause mass panic, and… well you're training to be a huntress, for some reason, you should know what negative feelings bring in."

"Grimm… what about the White Fang? Are they supposed to make another appearance during this chaos?" She asked.

Mercury didn't say anything instead opting to look at the ground.

Not pleased with that answer Ruby started pushing Mercy back into his arm.

"Yes, they're supposed to show up at Beacon and bring in Grimm!" He hissed through grit teeth.

"And Neo and Roman are supposed to cause chaos in the sky." Ruby connected what he said to what Neo had told her. "It's a pretty solid plan." She admitted causing Neo to nod a bit.

"Now you know, so just go ahead and kill me." Mercury said getting a confused look from Ruby.

"When she finds out what I've told you there won't be any mercy until she finally kills me herself, so just go ahead and get it over with." He said hanging his head down.

"Yeah… no." Ruby said making him look up in almost desperation. "She won't know you told anyone anything."

"You think she'll believe any excuse I come up with that's taken me out of fighting condition?!" He yelled. "There's no hiding any of this! You two can walk away scot-free, but I won't be able to fight tomorrow! At best I'm just useless. A broken tool she doesn't need anymore." He said growing quieter with each sentence. "She doesn't care about you two, Torchwick, the Fang, or even me and Emerald. We're kept around because we're useful to her."

"What a sad life you live." Ruby said almost in pity. "I could just kill you… these blades are named Mercy after all… but I might have another idea." She said getting confused looks from Neo and Mercury.

"If you were given a place to lay low then could we trust you not to run straight to Cinder with what happened?" Ruby asked narrowing her eyes.

"You're asking the person you just tortured, threatened, and interrogated if he won't tell his boss what happened in exchange for a place to lay low?" Mercury asked in slight disbelief.

"Yeah that about sums it up." Ruby said with a nod.

'She's insane… they're both insane… but…' He thought looking between his captors. His aura had started to return and was working on stemming his bleeding arm, and the lower half of his body had numbed completely. With a heavy sigh he looked into Ruby's eyes. Cold and ruthless one moment, warm and inviting the next… what the hell. "Alright fine, but if Cinder's plans work out then she'll probably find me soon after." He admitted.

"That might be true, but if what you said is true then… wait… if she were planning to cause as much chaos as possible for everyone then she'd also attack the… CCT… tower…" She said in realization.

"Show the Atlesian Army attacking everyone then pull the cord. Knocks out all communication between kingdoms and creates even bigger problems." Neo signed with a nod.

"This sounds pretty complicated, but extremely effective." Ruby admitted.

Mercury was at a loss. These two were praising his boss's plans that spelled the almost complete destruction of Beacon and Vale.

"Alright onto the next order of business." Ruby said clapping her hands together. "We need to get you somewhere special then talk to Kyle." She said directing the second part of that to Neo.

"Where exactly am I going?" He asked.

Ruby and Neo shared a look. "Neo grab our friend here a wheelchair if you would… and please re-clothe him." She added turning away from the both of them.

Neo shrugged but got to work regardless.

"Before you ask no we won't be returning your legs right now. I've got plans in store for those." Ruby said wiping the blood from her dagger onto her hand, and then looking to one of the legs.

A few minutes and questions later Mercury was clothed again, and Neo had found a wheelchair… somewhere… Damn thieves.

With a blanket over his lap Ruby made sure everything looked alright on her side. "Okay Neo let's pay an old friend a little visit." She said.

Neo took Ruby's hand in one hand, and the wheelchair in the other before disappearing in a flash of white.

Left behind were two bloody, broken, prosthetic legs and a note.

 _Junior's_

Ruby, Neo, and Mercury both looked up to the sign saying 'Junior's'.

"A bar?" Mercury asked with a frown.

"Yes, a bar, but this bar has a few rooms in the back for special guests along with the owner." Neo signed and Ruby translated.

The bouncer on duty looked to the approaching trio and frowned. He was about to tell them to scram before he recognized the one in red and quickly opened the door for the three.

"Aww you remembered me! I'm so happy." Ruby said sweetly as they walked by.

It wasn't late enough at night for the club to be too busy, so like the first time they came in it was mainly Junior's men walking around getting ready for the night. The man himself was at the bar as per usual watching over everyone else. He frowned when his eyes landed on Ruby and Neo, but he didn't make any move to stop them.

"What brings you two here this time? Another date?" He asked leaning on the counter.

"Nope just business this time Junior." Ruby said with a smile making him raise an eyebrow.

"What kind of business?" He asked just now noticing the kid in the wheelchair who looked very annoyed at this whole thing.

"We need a favor from you Junior. Our friend here needs to lay low for a while, and we figured this would be the best place." She answered.

"I'm not running a hotel here." Junior replied flatly.

"Aww come on Junior we know you have extra rooms in the backkkkk. Besides if you do this then we can all forget about us trashing your goons and the twins a while back." Ruby bargained.

"I don't think me doing _you_ a favor makes it up to _me_ that you two trashed my club." He said through grit teeth.

"Yeah but look at it this way." Ruby said spreading her arms to the people behind her. "Most all these people could be dead right now. You included!" She said as if she were giving a sales pitch. "But No! We left every single one of you alive out of the kindness of our hearts!" She continued dramatically. "And in RETURN! ALL we ask of you Junior… is a tiny favor." She ended with a bow.

Neo was giving a silent clap while Mercury and Junior sweat dropped.

"You know what fine. If only because the twins have taken a liking to you." Junior said shaking his head and nodding to one of his men. "Get him set up in one of the back rooms." He ordered.

Despite some minor complaining Mercury was wheeled away from the group.

"Alright then only one thing left to do." Ruby said taking out a burner scroll and sending a message. Once it was sent Ruby took out Crescent Rose in her sniper form and shot the scroll making Junior jump.

"What was the point of that?" He asked after recovering.

"Don't worry about it Junior. Oh, and thanks again for helping us out." She said receiving a grunt in response. She looked to Neo who nodded, and she took her hand. "One more thing tell the twins I said hi!" She shouted as they walked out of the club.

"Right…" He mumbled as he saw the twins making their way out of the back areas. "You both just missed Red Riding Hood and the Ice Cream." He shouted to the two.

"Damn that's like, too bad." Miltia said with Melanie nodding in agreement.

"We definitely need to party with those two sometime." Melanie added.

 _With Weiss_

Our dear heiress was unceremoniously sprawled out on her bed staring up at the bottom of Ruby's.

'Was there always this big of a gap between us?' She asked herself. She was still recovering from her spar with Ruby earlier, and it hadn't really gone according to plan for the heiress.

'When does she find time to train so much… she barely spends any time on schoolwork, but she's still passing all of her classes. Not on my or Pyrrha's level, but still passing... but that doesn't feel like enough time to make that big of a difference. How long has she been training like she does?'

The door opening broke the heiress from her thoughts. Blake and Yang had just come in. 'They've been spending a lot of time together haven't they…' Weiss mused as her teammates turned to look at her.

"What happened to you Ice Queen?" Yang asked raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing, just got in a spar with Ruby to make sure we're both ready for tomorrow." Weiss said sitting up.

"Right… speaking of Ruby…" Yang started slowly earning Weiss's attention.

"You've been spending a lot of time with her and that Neo girl." Blake picked up.

"Yes, I have." Weiss answered slowly.

"Doesn't it bother you?" Yang asked.

"Are you referring to the other night?" Weiss asked already knowing their answer.

"The other night, before then, all of it! She's admitted to doing… horrible things… and then there's that girl Neo." Blake said with a frown.

"It's true that I was perturbed at first." Weiss said holding her hand up to stop the other two from interrupting. "But that night I thought a lot about what she told us. What she's done and how she's acted from the beginning of the year. I don't think she's really changed all that much from the first time we met." 'Mentally anyways.' She said getting shocked looks form Yang and Blake. "She's admitted to killing and enjoying it at least part of the time. Even so… she's still the partner I met at the beginning of the school year. Of course, over time we've learned things about her that we might not like, but that's part of being on a team or being partners. In the beginning part of the year we didn't know you were an ex-terrorist, or that Yang knows people in the shady side of Vale. We never knew everything about each other, and we probably never will. Personally, while it may be annoying from time to time and may cause problems in the future, I don't mind it. We all have skeletons in our closet, and I do mean all of us. Ruby's just shown us a few of hers." She finished leaving the room in silence. Deciding she'd said enough Weiss stood up and stretched out a bit. "I'm going to take a walk." She said leaving the other two once again in silence.

 _With Kyle_

After the girls had their spar Kyle decided to wander around the grounds of Beacon. Eventually he found himself at Beacon's cliff edge. Just across the trees the sun was starting to set painting the sky hues of orange and red.

"It's quite the view isn't it?" A voice came from behind him.

"It certainly is." He said looking back to Glynda. "Finished with your cult meeting?" He asked turning back to the horizon.

"I'm very curious about how you knew about that, as are the rest of the members of the 'cult'." She said.

Kyle was about to say something, but she continued.

"But knowing you, you won't tell me anything about it." She finished walking up and standing next to him.

"You'd be right in that assumption." He said before glancing at her. "What brings you all the way over here anyways?"

"I should think the answer to that is obvious. You're my charge remember." She said professionally.

"Wouldn't it be wrong to be personally involved with your assigned charge?" He asked with a smirk.

"I haven't the faintest idea what you mean. As the school's headmistress I have to make sure everyone does what they're supposed to. Some individuals just require a bit more… involvement as you put it."

"You could just admit to liking me. Short, sweet, to the point." He responded with a lazy grin.

"You and I both know that that's no fun for either of us." She shot back with a small smile of her own.

"Perhaps you have a point." He said taking her hand and squeezing it. "It's much more fun to mess with you." He finished pulling her closer.

"You know doing something like this out in the open would make a lot of rumors among the students." She said eyeing their surroundings.

"Oh, I believe we've given them plenty of reasons to start rumors what's one more?" He asked his grin never faltering.

"I don't like that you're right, and that I don't seem to care about it." She said closing her eyes and leaning in. When she closed her eyes, she immediately felt herself pushed by something. Opening her eyes to the feeling of weightlessness she saw herself falling down the cliff. Looking back up she saw the all too satisfied smirk of the reaper, and just for good measure he winked at her before disappearing. "YOU SON OF A B-"

 _With Ruby and Neo_

Ruby and Neo decided to walk back to the bullhead port rather than just teleport. It was a nice evening and they hadn't been able to just walk around and relax in a while, so they were enjoying each other's company.

As they were walking, they saw an open-ended bar called 'Crow-Bar'. While they were walking, they heard what sounded like drunken yelling coming from inside. Sharing a look, the two shrugged before walking in to see what was happening.

Inside they found the bar relatively empty with the only patron at the bar-side was the teetering form of one Qrow Branwen.

"Anther…" He slurred banging his fist on the bar.

"I think you've had enough _sir_." The bartender said through grit teeth. After he said that Qrow sloppily got to his feet.

"I'll… tll youuu… when I'veee… had enooo-" He slurred before falling back on the ground.

With him out of the way the barkeep spotted the two girls behind him.

"Aren't you both a little young to be here?" He asked.

"Yes, yes we are." Ruby said looking down to her drunken father. "We'll take care of him." She said grabbing one of his arms with Neo grabbing the other. Hoisting him over their shoulders they made their way out of the bar and in the direction of Beacon.

Qrow had briefly lost consciousness when he fell and when he came to, he felt himself being carried somewhere. Correction: dragged. He waited a moment to let his bleary eyes refocus. "Ruby…?" He asked confused.

"Yea it's me." Ruby muttered as they kept moving. "And Neo." She added after Neo glanced her way.

"What happened?" He asked wondering how he went from drinking in a bar to being dragged around by his daughter and her girlfriend.

"We happened to be in Vale when we heard you from outside the bar. We stop by and look in only to watch you pass out in front of us." Ruby replied with a hint of amusement.

"Ah…" He muttered looking at the girls dragging him and noticing the blood on Ruby's hand. "Do I want to know what you were in Vale for? There's only so many reasons to have dried blood on your hands."

"We didn't do anything too bad." Ruby said while looking at her hands. 'How'd I forget to wipe my hands off?'

"What is your definition of 'too bad'?" He asked as he slowly started to sober back up with a little help from his aura.

"We didn't kill anyone." She supplied with a shrug. "In fact, I daresay we made and helped an… acquaintance?" She pondered looking to Neo who also shrugged.

"That's something I guess." Qrow said trying to start walking rather than being dragged. He was still wobbly, but he seemed alright for the most part. "Why'd you both help me?"

"Despite everything… family is important." Ruby said after a minute spent thinking about the things Kyle and Weiss had said over the past few days. "I wasn't just going to walk away and ignore you after watching you pass out. Besides you're the one who seems to have a problem with who I am. I was annoyed and angry at everything you and the others hid from me, but that anger has kind of… faded thanks to the past few days."

Qrow looked down in momentary silence taking in everything she had just said.

"That's something else that's been bothering me." Ruby continued making him look up in question. "Why do you care so much about the killing thing? It may be for different reasons, but I know your hands aren't clean." She said making him grimace slightly.

"You know about that huh?" He asked getting a nod in return.

"Kyle definitely isn't the only person in the world with a moniker, is he? Scarecrow." She said flatly.

Qrow gave a small chuckle. "I guess you know more about things than I realized. I've been learning that a lot today."

Ruby was tempted to ask what he meant, but he started talking again.

"Why don't I like the idea of my daughter killing?" He asked aloud with a dry laugh. "Never imagined I'd say something like that. Well there are a couple reasons kiddo. The biggest one being that I don't imagine your mother would approve if she were here."

"If she were still here none of this would've ever happened." Ruby interjected looking slightly down. Neo put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"The next reason… the fact that you enjoy it like a sport doesn't particularly sit well." He said getting a half-hearted shrug from the other two. "Finally… because of who your teacher is. You and I both know he's the reason you're like this now, and the reason Summer is dead. In the end that's not really something I can just ignore and look past."

'That's fair I suppose.' Ruby thought to herself. "You don't have to forgive him." She said getting an odd look from Qrow.

"Whether you forgive him or not isn't the biggest deal. Whatever is between you two is just that. Between you two, and as long as I'm not dragged into it again then I'll leave it to be sorted out by you two."

"I'm not sure if you've become more mature since I last saw you or if you've just got a false sense of detachment from things happening around you." Qrow muttered.

"An argument can be made for both." Ruby said before checking the time. "Neo and I need to get back to Beacon. Will you be joining us?"

"Ha are you kidding? Hanging around with a bunch of kids will just cramp my style. Even if one of them is mine." He said in a seemingly better mood than before. With that he started walking a different direction from the two of them.

Neo looked over to Ruby to see her with a small smile on her face. "You're awfully forgiving, aren't you?" She signed.

"Not always… but exceptions must be made from time to time." She said taking Neo's hand once again and turning in the direction of the bullheads to Beacon.

 _With Qrow_

As he walked away, he thought over what his little girl had said. 'Hmm what do you think Sum? She's different, but it looks like she might still be our little gem.' He thought with his own small smile. He stopped for a moment to feel the breeze blowing against his face. "That's just how it goes sometimes, I've never had very good luck." He muttered not losing his smile.

 **A/N: Well hello there. Now I know what you're all thinking. What took so long? Well like I've mentioned in the other stories that have been recently updated, this past semester was tough and busy for me in multiple ways. Now that the semester is over and I have a brief bit of downtime before I start my summer job I was able to get this out.**

 **Now that my excuses are over what'd you think? I apologize for what happened, but the idea of ending the previous chapter on the start of a fight then skipping past it in the next chapter just felt too funny to not do. I may go back to parts of it in flashbacks etc, but for now that's what you got.**

 **For real though I hope you all enjoyed. There were a couple different references from other things, so you can go hunting for those if you missed them the first time.**

 **Review time I suppose.**

 **Yep here's the update.**

 **And yeah whiterose is pretty cool.**

 **KHARAKI I hope you aren't too disappointed missing that fight, but on the bright side we had some Glynda and Kyle stuff. I know I enjoyed that.**

 **Anywho Follow, Favorite, Review, and whatever else you all do.**

 **~Laz Out.**


	28. Chapter 28

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY**

Chapter 27

"Hey Kyle?" Roman's voice popped into mentioned person's head.

"Yea?"

"Do you ever wonder why we're here?"

"It's one of life's great mysteries isn't it? Why are we here? Are we the product of some cosmic coincidence, or is there really a god watching everything with a plan for us? I don't know Ro, but it keeps me up at night." Kyle replied.

"What?" Roman asked completely confused. "No cut the shit I mean why Vale. We could've set up base anywhere, yet somehow we ended up in this crummy kingdom with it's stupid people, and that dumb fire bitch."

"Oh. Hmm I don't know this is where the wind took us for that assignment then comes Ruby whom you didn't know about yet. I just made an excuse to stay here I suppose." He answered with a shrug that couldn't be seen by his partner.

"We could've taken her with us and kept moving." The thief suggested.

"I thought about it, but the whole thing didn't sit well with my gut, so I decided against it. Besides why're you complaining didn't you pick up Neo here?"

"No actually, during that year we took off I was working a small heist closer to Atlas and stumbled upon her there." Roman admitted.

"Huh… guess I don't know much about Neo's past."

"Not many people do. I'm the one who took her in and there are still things I don't know. I don't particularly care to know about them, but my point still stands."

"It was the same with Ruby to an extent aside from all the stuff involving Summer."

...

"How many mistakes do you think we've made since getting here?"

"Too many to count." Kyle said with a sigh. "I should probably check how the tournament is going." He relayed while turning on his TV.

"Red and White's match is up soon isn't it?"

"Yep."

After a few seconds of silence Roman "spoke" again. "Before you get distracted by other things could you do me a small favor?" He asked with a hint of mischief in his tone.

"Like what…?"

"Could you bring me one of my hats? My head is awfully cold without it."

…

"Let me get this straight."

"Go ahead."

"You want me to sneak onto the Atlas flagship, manned by the general who is already suspicious of us because of your joke I might add, get past all the security they have, and break into your cell purely to deliver a hat that'll be taken the next time someone comes by to check on you?"

"Yeah that sums it up pretty well." The ginger said with a mental nod. Kyle could imagine the beaming smile he'd be seeing right now if Roman was in front of him.

"Alright why not it'll be a good way to waste time and cause havoc." He responded before cutting the link.

"My day just got a bit more interesting." The reaper muttered with a smile. Just then the bathroom door opened revealing our dear Goodwitch. 'Hmm I wonder…'

 _At the stadium_

Ruby and Weiss stood in the center of the arena looking to their opponents.

"Weiss Schnee… I hear you're pretty good with dust." A trumpeter said with a frown.

"I dabble." Weiss responded throwing him off with the un-Schnee-like answer.

Ruby meanwhile was listening to the skater girl who was talking a mile a minute. "Oh my gosh you are too cute! How could anyone take someone so tiny seriously? I guess I know how you made it this far."

Ruby just raised an eyebrow. "What's your name kitty cat?"

"Neon!" She said excitedly.

"You seem pretty quick with those skates. You up for a race?"

"Oh this'll be too easy." She said prepping her nunchaku.

Ruby just grinned. A few seconds later the randomization process was finished creating a desert, magma field, abandoned cityscape, and a geyser field combination.

"Weiss can you handle him while I take out this cat?"

"Of course." Weiss said leveling Myrtenaster towards Flynt.

"Well Peter it looks like we have an interesting match on our hands here."

"It sure does Bart. I don't want to show bias, but I would have to put my money on the duo from team RWBY for this match." The portly professor said with a chuckle.

"We can't count the duo from Atlas out yet- wait there goes Neon Katt!" He said as the buzzer sounded.

Once the match started Neon skated in a circle around the group for a few seconds before skating off in one direction. She was rather surprised to see the red reaper waiting for her. Unfortunately, she couldn't change courses quickly enough and she missed a beat.

Ruby had to redirect her hit, throwing the other girl into the air, to keep from cutting her in half. 'She doesn't have a lot of aura, does she?' She thought with a frown. 'Oh well.' With that Ruby twirled her scythe, jumped into the air, and brought the blunt end to meet the airborne student hammering her down into the ground.

In the crowd Melanie winced slightly then looked to her sister. "I know from experience that like hurts."

"I can tell." Miltia said before narrowing her eyes. "Did that first hit look weird to you?"

"What do you mean?" The white-clad twin asked.

"Right before it hit, little red adjusted her weapon."

"Do you think she was thinking of going for a more lethal hit?"

"Maybe, but I don't know… wanna ask her after this?" The red-clad twin asked.

"Like sure, but for now let's see what the heiress can do." She said redirecting her attention to the match.

Back towards the fight Ruby could be seen sitting off to the side per Weiss' request.

Weiss was zipping around the trumpet player with the help of her glyphs whittling his aura down. With a grunt of frustration Flynt activated his semblance creating three clones and combining their sound-based attack to throw the heiress away.

Skidding to a halt a few meters away Weiss stood up and pointed her rapier towards her opponent. "Let's finish this up." She said before casting a time dilation glyph beneath her.

Flynt narrowed his eyes, but he suddenly froze when a cold feeling of dread washed over him. Before he had time to figure out what happened, he felt a sharp pain in his chest. Looking down he saw the tip of Weiss' rapier slightly breaching his aura and digging into his chest. Then another feeling overtook him when Weiss activated a force glyph throwing him into an erupting geyser.

With that the match was over, and the crowd erupted in cheers. No one got a good look at the blood on the tip of Myrtenaster aside from the wielder, her partner, and of course Flynt. Weiss looked at the blood with a slight frown. Ruby was next to her in an instant and gave the girl a hug, while subtly wiping the blood onto her cloak leaving the blade clean.

"Good job Weiss!" She said before backing away. When Weiss looked the blood was gone and Ruby gave her a small wink. With a smile of her own she just shook her head. "Let's go you dunce." She said walking away.

"Good match guys." Ruby said as they passed the recovering Atlas teammates.

"Yeah… good match…" Neon said still slightly winded.

Up in the stands our favorite twins were trying to go over what just happened.

"That was fast." Melanie observed.

"Maybe it was that glyph she made?" Miltia suggested. "But the glyph wouldn't explain why the trumpet boy froze up.

"So, you saw that too?" Melanie asked her sister.

"Yea I did. I feel like red was the cause of it."

"Why's that? She was sitting off to the side." She asked confused.

"I was looking at Weiss like most of the crowd probably was, but when I saw him stiffen, I looked to Ruby and she had this look on her face."

"What kind of look?"

"Like a death glare kinda look." Miltia answered looking her sister in the eyes.

"Interesting." Melanie said looking away from her sister. "I think that match was the main reason we came here, so shall we head off to see our little friend?"

"Totally." Her sister said as they stood up and left the stands.

 _With Ruby and Weiss_

"What did you do back there?" Weiss asked with a slight glare.

Ruby looked away with a sheepish look. "I know you wanted to finish the match on your own, but I just wanted to help…"

"What. Did. You. Do?"

"The same thing I did to Sun back when we first saw him." Ruby said looking down. "Just a bit of focused bloodlust, or more aptly called KI, killing intent."

"I had that you know." Weiss said her glare softening. "But thank you for the assist."

"You're not mad?" Ruby asked carefully.

"No if our positions were reversed in an oddly specific way then I'd probably do the same." Weiss answered.

"That's good… so are you alright?" The mini reaper asked.

"Yes I'm fine why?" The heiress asked confused.

"Well you looked a little off after you stabbed that guy."

"Oh that… you mean the frown I had on my face, don't you?"

"Yea I couldn't really tell what was going through your head at that moment." Ruby admitted.

"I'm fine I was frowning because it was just like that time. I didn't feel anything from it. And I guess that struck me as odd… Piercing aura isn't something that happens easily. Maybe I went too far on that last attack." She said looking to the ground.

"You were fine Weiss. It was nothing more than a little prick, and nothing bad happened, so we're all good."

"Hmph very well then. How about we head out I'm sure your girlfriend is waiting oh so patiently."

Ruby had a dawning look on her face. "Ah we should probably go find her." She said as she darted out of the locker room.

After leaving they quickly found an annoyed looking Neo. With the disappearance of Mercury, it was decided Neo would fill in for him in the doubles round with Emerald. And Neo _really_ didn't like Emerald if she was being honest.

"How'd you do?" Neo signed.

"We won of course." Ruby said with a smile. "Are you ready for your match with the ass kisser?"

Neo rolled her eyes. "As ready as I'll ever be, I suppose."

"Good luck Neo." Weiss said politely.

"Thanks Ice Queen." She said with a smirk.

"Hey! I'm not nearly as icy as I used to be." She said with a pout.

"Hey Ruby!" came a voice from behind the group.

Ruby whirled around and smiled. "Melanie! Miltia! What're you both doing here."

"We heard through the grapevine that you'd be fighting today, so we decided to stop by." Melanie said.

Miltia walked up and looked at Neo in her disguise. "Is this…"

In response Neo blinked showing her pink and brown eyes before blinking again turning them back to their green hue.

"Yep it's Neo." Ruby said with a smile. "And this here is Weiss my partner." She turned to Weiss. "Weiss this is Melanie and Miltia."

"It's nice to meet you." Weiss said with a small curtsy.

"It's nice to meet you, but like there's no reason to curtsy to gals like us." Melanie said with a small smirk.

"Force of habit sorry." Weiss apologized with a slight blush. "How do you know these lovely ladies Ruby?"

"Well…" Ruby said looking between everyone.

"We met when she stopped by the club we work at with that bimbo of a sister." Miltia said.

"Ah and what do you do at that club that Ruby's sister called 'shady'." Weiss asked carefully.

"It's not _that_ shady." Melanie defended. "But we handle security of the club."

"Yes, I can see it now." Weiss said looking to the white one's heels. Miltia didn't have her claws on her. At least not visibly.

"So, what were you guys looking for me for?" Ruby asked.

"Well first we just wanted to stop by and say hi, but after that match we were curious about something." Miltia answered.

Ruby looked around for a moment before deciding they were in a safe area. "What about?"

"That first attack against the skater." Miltia said raising an eyebrow. "You changed the angle of your attack at the last second."

"Heh heh yea… I happened to glance at the monitor, and it showed she had already lost six percent of her aura from the time the match started not seconds before, so I decided to change attacks."

"Well that makes sense. It was also very observant of you." Melanie said with slight praise.

"Coming from the two who noticed the change in the first place I'd say you're the more observant ones." Ruby said with an internal frown. 'Was I that obvious?'

"Not really." Miltia said waving her off. "But that leads me to the next thing. You're the reason the trumpet boy froze up, aren't you?"

'Dear Oum, I've been far too careless recently.' Ruby thought with a frown. If these two noticed her actions, then who else in the crowd or watching on TV did? "Ah ha you got me on that too." Ruby said before glaring at them both. "The two of you wouldn't mind keeping what you saw to yourselves would you?" She asked leaving an open threat in the air.

Melanie and Miltia shared a quick look. "We didn't see a thing." Melanie said holding her hands up.

"Well good." Ruby said back to her happy self.

'She still flips at the drop of a hat.' Miltia thought to herself.

"Neo!"

The group turned to see an approaching green-haired thief.

'Oh joy.' Neo thought to herself. "Gotta go Ruby." She signed before kissing the mini reaper.

"Good luck Neo." Ruby said as the girl walked to her temporary teammate.

"I think with that I'll be off too." Ruby said to the group before disappearing leaving nothing but a few rose petals.

An awkward silence hung over the three who were all but left behind. "So…" Weiss started.

The twins just looked at the heiress amused "We're 'lovely' are we?"

 _With Kyle and Glynda_

"This is insane!" Glynda hissed as they passed another set of guards.

"Yes, you've mentioned that twenty times in the last five minutes." Kyle whispered with a sigh. "If you didn't want to come you didn't have to, I just need some answers."

"It is my job to keep an eye on you, so there's no way I'm letting you do this alone." The witch said as they crept over to the storage area.

"Yes, but keeping an eye on me and helping me sneak onto the ship are two very different things."

"No in this specific occasion they're both the same thing." She defended. The mere notion of letting him do something this stupid on his own and risk getting caught was out of the question.

"Well then stop complaining and be quiet." He said before entering the storage room. After a minute or so he returned with a hat and a pack of cigars.

"Explain to me the purpose of gathering his personal belongings." Glynda said exasperated.

"If he requested a cigar for useless information, we might be able to bargain with him with more than a simple cigar, but if that doesn't work then we can just taunt him with it." He said with a grin.

"I still don't understand why we're questioning him about anything." Glynda muttered.

The two had been on the ship for around thirty minutes. Ironwood was at the tournament handling security personally, so they were taking advantage of that. A quick trip to the security room provided them an administrative key and a general layout of the ship, but now came the tough part. Squeezing into that tiny cell with a criminal who could turn hostile without being seen by any patrols, and then interrogating him.

She did not like this plan.

After a few more minutes sneaking towards the holding cells Kyle dragged her into a side corridor. Glynda was about to ask about the sudden dragging when he held his finger to her lip.

"Someone find them! We can't have an intruder loose onboard the ship when the general gets back!" Winter Schnee said as she hurried down the hall the way they had just been.

"Either there's another intruder, or someone checked the security room… or the person we knocked out woke up." The reaper suggested with a shrug. "Regardless this means we should hurry."

"No." She said holding his arm. "This means we need to leave before things get worse." She finished leveling a glare at him.

"The Ice Queen doesn't want to report this until they find the intruders, so let's be on our way. Questioning Torchwick won't take more than a few minutes anyways." He said taking his arm back and moving again.

'Ugh!' She internally screamed before following him.

 _With Winter_

'Why is this happening now of all times?! If the general finds out this happened unanswered on my watch then I'm royally screwed.' Winter seethed to herself. It was a simple comms check, but security three didn't answer and lo and behold he's unconscious and his keys are gone.

'What would anyone want to break into the ship for anyways? No one would be foolhardy enough to try and take the bridge… the prisoners? The only one we currently have is… that thief!' She thought immediately doing a 180. She would stop this herself if need be.

 _With Kyle and Glynda_

"Well well well if it isn't the Reaper!" Roman said with a cocky grin.

"So he _does_ know you." Glynda stated the obvious with a slight frown.

"And let's see you must be Beacon's Witch. Glynda Goodwitch if I'm not mistaken." He added on turning his attention to her.

"You'd be correct, but right now I'm not your concern." She said crossing her arms.

"Now then let's move this along I'm sure we all have other things to be doing." Kyle said bringing attention back to him. "Now I had someone recently attempt to arrest me… again… because of a tip they claimed came from you." He said leveling a gaze to the thief.

"I can assure you I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about." He replied with a grin.

"Is that so?" He asked calmly. He walked closer to the thief and smashed his head against the wall.

"Agh!" Roman grunted in slight surprise. His cell was constantly draining his aura, so he felt that more than he usually would.

"Don't forget who you're talking to Torchwick. I came to talk, but I can just as easily kill you and be done with it."

"Fine! Fine! I sold a cheap line to metalhead in exchange for a cigar. I need my fix sue me." He quickly explained.

"But why me?" Kyle asked narrowing his eyes.

"Isn't it obvious?" Roman asked with an air of arrogance again. "Tin can has some obvious issues with you. I just gave him an answer he wanted to hear."

"You're smart torchy, and manipulative." Kyle said lighting one of the cigars. "But one of these days you'll bite off more than you can chew." He finished pressing the burning cigar into the thief's hand.

"Agh! Fuck!" Roman hissed holding his hand.

"Enjoy the cigar I know you need your fix." The reaper said with a dark smile before turning back to his companion. "I think we're done here." He said as the cell door opened with a very angry Schnee in the doorway.

Before she could even say anything, a hand was covering her face and an arm was wrapped around her neck in a sleeper hold. It took a minute, but Winter soon stopped struggling and sank to the floor. Holding the position for a few more seconds to be sure Glynda let go and let out a sigh of relief. 'Wait… what'd I just do that for?' She thought with wide eyes. 'Just what is this man doing to me?'

"Alright Bonnie and Clyde would you mind leaving me in peace now?" Roman asked with a frown.

"Sure sure. Watch the ice queen for us would ya and remember… we were never here, or else it'll be your head I come for next." He threatened before the duo left back towards the security room. They had to make sure the cameras were properly edited before ending this adventure.

No one noticed a misplaced hat on the floor of Roman's cell.

On the way back he got a smack in the head from the Goodwitch.

"I told you something like this would happen!" She ground out.

"Shh relax Glynda it'll be fine." He said with a sweat drop.

 _With Ruby_

After ditching her partner and the twins Ruby was scanning the crowds in the arena for a certain person.

'There she is!' Ruby thought with a grin. Seconds later she was next to her target. "Hey Cinder!" She said loudly almost receiving a fireball to the face.

"Please remain quiet around me Ruby. What do you want?" She asked letting the small fire in her hand dissipate.

"Just wanted to see how you were doing. I heard Neo was put in this fight at the last minute and wanted to check on things."

"Things are going just fine." Cinder said with a twitch of her eye. "Now unless you want to sit here and _Quietly_ cheer for our dear friends Emerald and Neo, then you can leave me be."

"Sorry I was just checking in on things." Ruby said looking down. After a moment she looked up again with a blank face. "Remember if you need any additional help with this plan of yours then let me know. I'm still curious about it after all." She said looking back to the current fight.

Cinder stared at the crimsonette weighing her options. 'Without Mercury to fight in the next round the plan needs to be adjusted. She _is_ a viable option. The picture of innocence with a real mean streak to set up before the fight between the warrior and robot girl.' "Actually, Ruby I might need your help after all." She said gaining the other girl's attention.

Before facing the maiden again Ruby smiled a small smile. "Yes?"

"If I fix it to where you fought Emerald in the singles match could you throw in an extra attack at the end after the match is called? Non-lethal of course." She asked.

"I think I could do that. I love giving a good _performance_." She said with a smile that was too sweet.

"Wonderful. That should be all I'll need from you." Cinder said with her own smile.

"I'll do it, but first you gotta give me a little more info." Ruby bargained earning an annoyed look from the amber-eyed girl.

"Like. What?"

"What's the point of the cheap shot?"

"The cheap shot as you put it will help cause unrest to everyone watching around the world." She got out quickly. "There are you happy?"

"Not really, but for the moment I'm satisfied." Ruby said with a nod. "I'll make sure to help in that end." She said as the buzzer signaled the match's end. "Good day Cinder." She said walking away.

"That girl…" Cinder muttered as she left. Something wasn't right with her, but she just couldn't figure out what.

 _A few hours later_

 _Knock_

 _Knock_

 _Knock_

"Yes?" Kyle asked opening his door. In front of him stood his protégé and the ice cream.

"Who's at the door?" Glynda called from inside the room. Ever since they got off the ship, they'd been laying low.

"Just Ruby and Neo I'll be right back." He said as he walked out and closed the door. "This looks important what is it?"

"We have a bit to catch you up on." Ruby started quickly. "Cinder's plan will start picking up soon, probably in the next round of the tournament, and we know what her goal is."

"Go ahead."

"She's after the fall maiden." Ruby whispered. "Roman and Neo will cause havoc in the sky and the White Fang are also supposed to make another appearance here on the ground."

"In the chaos she'll find the maiden and finish her off." Kyle finished. "Probably hoping to transfer the rest of the maiden's powers into herself."

"That's what it sounds like. And I haven't told you about the upcoming part of her plan yet." She said receiving a nod telling her to continue. "Well first actually, we found a lot of this out by torturing and interrogating Mercury."

"Is he dead?" Kyle asked.

"No, he's laying low at Junior's, that's where we brought him. He won't be a hindrance to us."

"Alright then what's the next part of this plan?"

"I've offered to help out with her plans a few times and she just recently took me up on it. In one of the finals rounds I'm to face off against Emerald, and after the match regardless of how it ends, I'm supposed to go in for a cheap shot. The plan is to cause distrust and unrest between the kingdoms attracting Grimm. There's probably another part after that, but I don't know what it is."

"Hmm it isn't a bad plan. Plenty of room for error, but that's to be expected." Kyle said with a hand to his chin.

"We wanted to catch you up and figure out what we should do." Neo said.

"… Stick to her plan… but make it a performance Ruby." He said surprising Neo and getting an excited grin from Ruby. "It might not go over well, but I have a new contract and it'll be difficult. If this plan works out, then I might be able to fulfill it easier."

"Alright will do." Ruby said with that excited look on her face. "Just out of curiosity who is the contract for?"

The reaper just looked at them both for a moment. "The contract is for…"

 _ **Break**_

Ruby was laying in her team's dorm for the first time in a while. "Blake and Yang are probably off somewhere together. Maybe one of them finally asked the other out." Ruby suggested aloud to herself. "I haven't seen Weiss in a while, but it's getting late, so she'll probably be back soon. Unless she found herself a lucky guy or girl. If Blake and Yang hit it off, then she'll be the only one left. That is when I'll step in as a good best friend to help out." She muttered with a smile as the door unlocked. Looking up she saw Weiss. "Oh, there you are Weiss what've you been up to since I left?"

Weiss had an odd look in her eyes before shaking her head. "N-nothing." She stammered.

Curiosity piqued Ruby carefully looked at her partner. Upon closer inspection, Ruby noticed a small bit of red on her neck almost blending in with the interior of her jacket. Looking even closer she saw more little marks.

"Oh Weissy~! What _have you_ been up to?" Ruby asked with a Cheshire grin getting closer. "Or better yet _with_ _who_?"

 **A/N: Well hello there. My oh my this chapter was very entertaining to write, and in the past that usually means you all will like it, so I have my fingers crossed. We saw a lot of things in this chapter that I'll let you all work out on your own. For those of you saying "You didn't..." near the end, yes I most certainly did.**

 **Anywho now that the cryptic message is delivered how was it?**

 **I've been meaning to actually get started with this chapter for a while. For me starting a chapter is the most difficult part, and I actually started when someone suggested the RvB bit between Roman and Kyle because I thought it'd be funny and it was.**

 **Now then reviews. As always thank you everyone who reviewed.**

 **Ember228 that's actually really nice of you to say, so thanks for that.**

 **Panda I'm glad it was a good balance last chapter. Some things needed to get moving, but I didn't want it to seem too forced.**

 **Oh! rereading the reviews is how I do this part by the way. That torture scene from the other chapter. Who recognized where I got that from because I freely admit I stole that straight from a movie. Someone please tell me you recognized it.**

 **Misaka haha... no. I would actually die attempting to do that.**

 **DavidQrowWashington: Like I mentioned that was a great idea. And just like in RvB it couldn't have been at a randomer time than at the beginning of the chapter. I hope it went as well as you imagined it.**

 **Hmm hmm**

 **Guilmon that's actually pretty funny.**

 **To those I didn't specifically name thank you of course and I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.**

 **For those that may not remember a while back I said this story was coming to a close soon. I wasn't lying but I ended up lengthening it in just about every random way possible because I think I originally said that in the early twenties/late teen chapters, so oops, but It really will be ending in a couple chapters. I'm still _probably_ going to write a sequel because I've still got stuff already planned for that, and you all kind of said a sequel would be cool, but yea just a heads up.**

 **Like always Follow, Favorite, Review, and whatever else you all do.**

 **~Laz out.**


	29. Chapter 29

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything**

 **Also this chapter while short was pretty fun to write.**

Chapter 28: A True Performance

Performance.

That one word sent chills down her spine. Oh, how she loved it. Drawing back to the first time she'd heard it, in this connotation, filled her with glee.

Ruby Rose loved a _proper_ performance. Murder and killing in general are fine and dandy, but only true beauty could be found through a performance of death… or pain, either works. This line of thinking brought her back to the night of her first performance.

It wasn't long after her first kill actually. She remembered the sick squeamish feeling she had once had at the thought of killing, but then came that fateful day.

 _Flashback_

" _I'll be back in a while Ruby." Kyle said walking towards the exit of their humble abode._

" _Where are you going?"_

" _Well duty calls as it were. I'm getting things ready for my next assignment."_

" _How long will you be gone?" She asked looking a little down._

" _I don't know… it depends on how long it takes to finish the preparations. It could be less than an hour, it could be all night." He offered with a shrug._

" _All night…" She muttered before looking up to him. "Can I come with you?" She asked hopefully._

" _I don't think you'd take what I'll be doing well."_

" _Well what're you doing?" She asked confused. 'He's just getting ready for a job, what could be so bad about that?'_

" _I need information, so I'm performing an… interrogation." He said after a moment's pause. "After what happened last week, I don't think you'd want to join me for this."_

 _Ruby cringed at that. She had wanted so badly to show she could help her teacher with his work, so she begged for it, but… the ending proved she wasn't quite… up to the task. The horrified looks on their faces, the desperation in their voices as they begged, the smell of blood in the air. It haunted her dreams each night._

 _While she was lost in thought the reaper walked up to her and ruffled her hair snapping her out of her trance. "Just relax here and work on your drills and… don't let those deaths get to you too much… the first kill is always the hardest, and for many it's their last." He finished before turning around and walking towards the exit again._

" _Wait!" She called making him pause. "How can you stand it? How do you keep going and not let it affect you?"_

 _He didn't answer immediately. After a minute or so his hand grazed the mask on his hip. "Perspective." He said getting a confused look from his protégé. "I see all of the people I've killed as a job. It usually isn't personal, but I'll admit sometimes, fortunately or unfortunately depending, it is, and most importantly it doesn't bother me because it ensures the survival of myself and those close to me." He said cryptically._

 _Deciding not to push that thought further Ruby just sighed to herself. "How can I make it stop? I don't want their deaths haunting me for the rest of my life."_

" _Like I said. You just need to change your perspective. Some people look at it as a game, others see it a necessary means to an end, and some people even see it as art."_

" _Art?"_

" _Yes… I don't have much experience in that mindset, but I've known a person or two like that. Wanting to put on a show. A performance if you will. Whether it be public or private could change depending on the individual."_

' _A performance… how could killing be considered a performance?' She thought to herself. She had always liked plays and things like that when she was younger. Huntsmen rushing into an overrun village to save the day, a few of them finding true love from those they saved and other similar stories. It didn't add up to death though… 'Hmm…'_

" _Well I need to be going, I'll see you in a while."_

" _Take me with you!" She said quickly._

 _Looking into her eyes he saw many things: determination, curiosity, need, fear, and most curiously desire. She had something in her head, so he decided to see where it would go. "Very well come on then."_

 _Flashback end_

The rest as they say was history.

Currently Ruby sat in the locker room reminiscing before her match. Cinder hadn't wasted any time. The first match was Emerald vs. Ruby.

Neo sat near her watching the different expressions pass over her lover's face, and while she still didn't understand why the "performance" thing got her so excited she figured she'd see soon enough.

"Are you ready Neo?" Ruby suddenly asked.

"For?" Neo responded.

"I've been tasked with putting on a beautiful show, and I'll make it one to remember." Ruby said in a sweet tone that contrasted the dark glint in her eyes. "Now that I think about it this'll be the first performance with a real vi- person since Roman's dust robbery." She said putting a hand to her chin.

"I suppose so what're you going to do?" The mute asked curiously while filing that second part away for later.

"Ah ah ahhh I can't tell you, that it'd ruin it." She said with a happy smile. "A journey is no fun if you know what happens before it begins. That's like reading the end of a story before the beginning."

Neo crossed her arms and huffed. 'Damned tease.' Despite her internal struggle, she was excited to see what Ruby had planned. She hadn't seen her partner this excited for something probably ever, so the anticipation was killing her.

Ruby walked over and linked her arms around Neo's neck. Before the ice-cream themed girl could form a response, Ruby gave her a quick kiss before putting their foreheads together and staring into her pink and brown eyes. "I promise you will enjoy this. Knowing you that is." Ruby said with a giggle before breaking the embrace. "Be sure to pay attention. Wouldn't want you to miss anything."

Neo just stood there blushing. 'Ohh that little vixen!' She thought clapping her hands to her cheeks. 'Getting me excited then walking away. I'll show her what happens when you leave the great Neo hanging!' She thought fiercely. 'Wow that sounded almost as conceited as Roman usually does… note to self, calm tits.'

With that Neo walked outside to find a seat. While doing so she came across a few familiar faces that made her pause.

"Oh, hey Neo." A white-clad twin said drawing the others' attention. In front of the mute girl stood the twins she and Ruby liked to mess with and Ruby's partner.

'How odd.' She thought before shrugging and turning back towards the arena area.

"Wait Neo!" Called Weiss as the trio quickly caught up with her.

Eyeing the three following her she just shrugged again and continued looking for a seat. A few minutes later found the group seated while the platform started rising with the two competitors on it.

Neo looked over to Weiss who caught her gaze.

"Enjoy the show." Neo signed with a twinkle in her eye.

"What do you mean by that?" Weiss asked only to not receive an answer.

"What'd she say?" Miltia asked.

"You know sign language?" Asked the other twin.

"'Enjoy the show', and yes Neo taught me." Weiss answered looking between her partner and the smiling Neo. "This is going to give me a headache isn't it?"

 _On the platform_

"Let's get this over with." Emerald said spinning one of her pistols lazily.

"Got something else to be doing _Em_?" Ruby asked with a smile.

"The sooner I beat you the sooner we move along with the plan. This was supposed to be Mercury's job anyways." She said muttering the last part.

With the noise of the crowd they didn't have to worry about anyone hearing their conversation.

"I think I'll enjoy this." Ruby said unfurling Crescent Rose.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we're about to begin the first match of the individual portion of the tournament!" Professor Port's voice boomed over the speaker systems receiving a thunderous applause.

"Yes, and what a treat we have to start off wouldn't you say Peter?" His partner in crime Dr. Oobleck asked from his right.

"Indeed I would! From Haven's Team CMEN we have Emerald Sustrai, and from Beacon's own Team RWBY we have Ruby "Reaper" Rose!" He shouted ecstatically.

"Where'd the reaper part of that come from?" The doctor asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well I think we both know part of the reason, but in reality, she and her team have been coasting through this tournament so far, and with her choice of weapon I'd say the name fits!" The portly man said with a jolly chuckle.

"Even with her team's success we can't count out Ms. Sustrai. Her team has also been doing extremely well thus far in the tournament." Dr. Oobleck said refocusing on the two people standing on the platform.

 _Back on the platform_

'Reaper huh…' Ruby thought to herself. 'He doesn't realize how right he is, but alas I was told to refrain from killing the vi- girl. Girl. Come on Ruby.'

 _Match Begin in_

 _3…_

 _2…_

 _1…_

 _Begin_

Ruby grinned and gave a wink to Emerald before disappearing in a trail of rose petals. Emerald stayed calm and looked for where the girl would strike from. Her unvoiced question was answered a moment later when her instincts screamed at her to duck. She ducked just in time to see her opponent's scythe blade fly over where her head had just been.

'Is she trying to kill me here?!' Emerald asked herself as she spun on her heel slashing at where the attack came from with one of her sickles only to hit air. 'Where now?' She thought to herself.

Ruby just smirked to herself. It didn't seem her opponent wanted to broadcast her semblance at the moment. 'Oh well not that it'd do too much in this case anyways.' She thought as she made a drive by catching her opponent's heel causing said girl to fall to a kneel. "What a bore." Ruby said as she appeared behind the kneeling girl with her scythe raised. "And I was looking forward to this whole thing too." She said before bringing her weapon down only for it to go through the girl. Internally Ruby just smiled.

 _Out in the stands_

"Ruby look out!" Weiss called as her opponent ran up from behind. She might've said more if she didn't feel a hand on her shoulder. Looking over she saw Neo raising an eyebrow in silent question. "She deemed it necessary to help me from the sidelines in the past, and while at the time I may not have appreciated it, it was helpful. I'm just trying to help." Weiss explained getting quieter and quieter.

"Oh Weiss… you're so precious." Neo signed before tussling the heiress's hair much to said girl's ire.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Weiss asked batting away the offending hand and straightening her hair as best she could.

"That girl down there is like us… experienced." Neo signed with a chilling smile. "Just watch and trust Ruby." She finished looking back towards the fight. 'This'll be good I can feel the bloodlust in the air.'

Weiss looked back towards the fight to see Ruby dodge away from the attack.

Miltia watched the one-sided exchange quietly. 'That look on her face. I have a bad feeling about this.' She thought before turning to her sister who was still watching the match. 'Oh well.'

 _On the platform_

"How'd you do that?" Ruby asked innocently as she dodged another attack from her vi- enemy.

"Would you just stay still!" Emerald yelled in frustration.

"And let you attack me? That doesn't sound like a good idea." Ruby answered with a sweet smile. "Anyways I think it's time to step it up a bit." She said blocking the mint-haired girl's attack with the shaft of her own weapon. With strength that didn't match her stature Ruby pushed Emerald away from her and disappeared in another trail of petals.

 _With the announcers_

"Close match so far." Oobleck noted as Ruby disappeared.

"Indeed, it has been, but I have a feeling things are going to pickup soon Barty." Port said with an imperceptible grin.

"Just what is the leader of RWBY doing?" He asked as more and more petals appeared on the battlefield.

"I don't know, but I can't wait to find out." The portly professor said with another chuckle. Even from up here he could feel a little bit of the bloodlust coming from center stage. Those that recognized it for what it was probably assumed it came from the Sustrai girl with her apparent annoyance of the match, but he knew better. 'This is the same feeling as when she fought that Alpha Beowulf, just stronger.' He thought amused. Despite the grandeur he had while telling his stories, most of them were indeed true, and while they were all about fighting the Grimm, he had come to face his fair share of human and faunus opponents. 'Ruby Rose… even if it isn't your main priority in the future you will become a splendid huntress. The only question is what will you be hunting?' He thought to himself as the match below continued.

 _Center stage_

Emerald looked around finding nothing but a thickening wall of rose petals that seemed to be closing in on her. 'What is this? She's never done something like this in class.'

A small giggle came from every direction. "Are you ready to begin Emerald? You're the lucky girl who was picked to star in my little _performance._ " Came Ruby's chilling voice. "Now I believe it's time for the opening act."

Emerald glanced around with a feeling settling in her stomach. 'This isn't adrenaline from the fight.' She thought wanting to take a step back, but there was no where to go. 'No… this is something I haven't felt from anyone aside from Cinder since she found me… I'm actually afraid.' She realized before feeling a searing pain across her back.

Fighting a cry of anguish, she tried to pull her pistols up. 'If I can trip her with my chains then I'll have some breathing room.' She thought raising one of her pistols. Before she could fire a loud crack was heard from the surrounding air that knocked her weapon out of her hand. A split second later the other gun was shot out of her hand and knocked past the edge of the vortex.

"Now Emerald we don't want to do that." Ruby's sweet voice came from the surrounding petals.

 _In the stands_

Weiss stared at her partner's attack with awe. "Where'd she learn to do something like this?" She asked as two shots from Crescent Rose sounded out.

The twins next to her didn't offer any response as they hadn't seen this from Ruby either. Neo on her other side just smirked. 'The match is over.' She noted as Emeralds pistols flew out of the petal blizzard. 'But how long until the conclusion I wonder.'

"Have you seen this before Neo?" The heiress asked again.

Neo nodded. "Being inside there... it's horrifying." She signed with a grin as she sat forward in her seat.

Weiss nodded before frowning. 'Neo's not only seen this attack before, but she's faced it. That's not fair…' She thought with a small pout.

Melanie looked over to see Weiss' pouting faced and laughed. "Calm down ice queen I'm sure red will show you her trick later." She said pulling the girl closer to her getting an angry blush from the heiress and an amused smile from Miltia. Neo just rolled her eyes at the amusing scene.

 _Center stage_

"Ruby! Let me out of here! I'll surr- Agh!" Emerald couldn't help the pained cry this time as the cut appeared on her stomach. Her aura protected her, but it can only dull the pain so much. With the pain and panic running through her mind she couldn't cast any illusions to try and get out of this.

There she was in the center of this tornado of rose petals, weaponless, and powerless. Anytime she tried running to the edge she was knocked back in. She was stuck and she hated it.

"Ruby that's eno- ahhh." She cried as she fell to her knees clutching her arm.

"The performance is only finished when I say it is." A voice whispered out.

'What is she! That voice can't be hers. It's too cold, too dark, too malicious.' She thought with her eyes closed tight.

"Come on _Em_ we can't be done just yet. We still need to finish our fight, and you can't do that laying about." Came the thing's voice though it sounded like the normal Ruby this time.

"No! I can't I-" She stopped again with a choked gasp as she felt something wrap around her neck. Opening her eyes, she saw a small hand squeezing her throat. Following the arm up she found dark silver eyes glaring down at her.

"I really don't like that word." She said evenly as she squeezed harder. "Keep this up and I might just forget I'm not supposed to kill you." She said before kicking the girl towards the vortex and rejoining it merely to knock her back to the middle.

 _With the announcers_

"My lord I don't believe I've seen an attack quite like this." Dr. Oobleck said to his partner in crime.

"I can't say I have either Bart, but even though it is steadily draining Ms. Rose's aura, it appears to be chipping away at Ms. Sustrai's much faster." Port said glancing to the steadily falling aura of Ruby and the falling chunks of the Haven student.

"For those who haven't quite put it together the rose petals are a byproduct of Ms. Rose's semblance. While she mainly uses her semblance for speed, here it looks like she's combined her speed with the petals to create the vortex we see now. She's found a way to weaponize rose petals. Astounding simply astounding. We may not be able to see exactly what is happening, but as the aura board shows the fight is still going steadily." The history buff explained.

"I know what you mean it is truly a spectacle." Port added.

 _Teacher's Living Quarters_

"It's an interesting tactic to be sure, but aside from looking impressive I can't say I see the point of it." Glynda said eyeing the girl's teacher.

"It _is_ an impressive attack, but it's not quite as simple as you'd think. I've fought against it once when she wanted to test it, and in her hands it really is amazing." Kyle said from next to the good witch. They were still "lying low" as it were, so they were in his room relaxing on the couch. "Tell me Glynda have you ever had your senses turned against you?"

"No… what exactly is she able to do with that technique?" She asked raising a delicate eyebrow in question.

The reaper just smiled and watched the show.

 _Center stage_

Emerald despite the crimsonette's warning was kneeling with her arms covering her head and neck. There was nothing she could feasibly do in this situation and she could feel her aura reaching extremely low levels. A few more attacks and she'd be down.

Ruby like usual was slowly coiling the twister tighter and tighter while making small passes on the downed girl. It would be simple to just run her through, but that was such a boring end, and she was going to enjoy making a spectacle out of this. 'She's running low on aura… that means it's about time.' Ruby thought to herself as she struck across the downed girl's back. 'Now should be perfect.' She thought with a grin.

Next thing Emerald knew she felt something sharp across her front. Opening her eyes wide she didn't have a chance to do anything before she found herself thrown high into the air. She was completely helpless as the twisting attacks knocked her higher and higher into the air, and then she felt it. She had reached near the top of the vortex and could almost see the arena outside, and she felt her aura break.

 _With the announcers_

"Somebody get down there and stop the match!" Oobleck hissed into a headset. Emerald's aura was close to the twenty-percentage mark which is when they'd normally call the match, but her aura started rapidly falling and quickly hit zero.

While Oobleck tried to get people to stop the match and Port worked to keep the crowd calm a bloodcurdling scream came from inside the petal storm silencing the crowd. Out from the top of the vortex shot the battered body of Emerald. When she hit the ground, her body rolled along the platform of the arena leaving a trail of blood. Coming out a few feet away from her was her liberated arm. Everyone in the arena and watching at home stared in shock. The silence was so heavy it was as if the world itself was afraid to make a sound.

As the wind settled down a figure slowly stepped out of the tornado. Hood up and scythe on her shoulder, she slowly exited the dying vortex and spun her scythe in an arc removing the blood from the blade with a flourish. After that she disappeared in a burst of rose petals.

That seemed to snap everyone out of it as the next thing anyone could hear were screams of panic.

The platform was quickly lowered, and medical personnel rushed to the downed girl, who was luckily unconscious. While that was happening, security personnel were trying to find the young rose.

 _In the crowd_

Weiss watched this madness with a minute frown. With a sigh she looked to those around her. Neo seemed to be in a good mood and quickly disappeared in a flash of white. On the other side Melanie and Miltia while not really surprised or bothered by the picture grimaced slightly.

"That dolt. I'm going to have to chew her out for this. That's twice now she's crippled a person in front of a large group." Weiss said with a scowl as she made her way out of the arena.

Melanie and Miltia watched her go before exchanging a look. "That girl has like balls of steel." Melanie said getting a nod from her sister.

"Let's go see if those balls get cut off." Miltia said moving to follow the wayward heiress.

With a sigh Melanie followed.

Cinder stared out down at the platform to her downed subordinate. With her own scowl in place she glanced at the last place Ruby had been. 'I will make her pay for interfering in my plans.' She thought with a growl. She said to deliver an extra hit yes, but that didn't mean cripple the girl. She still needed Emerald for her plans. Swearing revenge, she made her way down to Emerald.

In another part of the crowd Yang and Blake watched the scene unfold with wide eyes.

"Yang…?" Blake asked carefully. She knew Ruby had done things like this before, but with her partner you could never be too careful.

Looking into the girl's eyes she didn't find any anger or malice, instead all she saw was sadness.

Wiping her eyes with her arm Yang looked at the bloody platform and stood up. "Come on Blake we need to stop her. She can't be allowed to hurt anyone else. Weiss also left, so she might be looking for her too."

Blake could tell what she just said had crushed her, but she said it anyways. "…alright Yang." She said taking the blonde's hand. "We will do this together, so don't run off on your own."

Yang gave her partner a side glance and managed a small smile. "The runaway telling me not to run off when she's the one who did that last time." She chuckled with a small sniffle. "Let's go."

 _Teacher Living Quarters_

"Well it was certainly a show indeed." 'Even if there wasn't much to watch.' Kyle thought to himself eyeing a visibly tense Goodwitch.

"Yes… a show…" She said with a false calmness. "What the hell was she thinking?!" She yelled rounding on the man next to her.

"That girl she fought… what do you know about her?" He asked annoying the blonde.

"She's a student of Haven academy what of it?" She asked trying to reign in her temper. He usually had some line of thought to express in situations like this, but if she wanted to know what it was then she knew she had to play his little game.

"That girl is a pawn of a pawn of the Black Queen." He said simply taking all the wind from her sails.

"How do you know? And how long have you known?" She asked with a glare.

"I know because I heard about it. I still have my own informants after all. And I've known since they first arrived here. Before that I merely knew of them not exactly who they were."

"And why didn't you feel the need to tell anyone about this?" She asked her ire growing.

"This one was played close to the chest. Besides you never asked." He said simply. Before she could retort he continued. "We don't know who knows what or who is listening where. I just know what I know. Even that-" He paused nodding towards the TV. "I only learned about last night when the girls came over."

"I see." She said evenly.

Looking over he raised an eyebrow. "You calmed yourself very quickly what's the deal?"

"You know the girl better than I do, so you know it's highly likely she'll make her way here at some point, so we'll remain here and detain her when she arrives. Unless you see an issue with that?"

"I don't get what the big deal is." He said with a shrug. "It isn't like it's the first time she's done something like this."

"She cut off another student's arm! Loyalty to the Black Queen aside what we know doesn't change what the rest of the world just witnessed. They saw one of our students _cripple_ another."

"I suppose that's fair. I still say it could've been worse look on the bright side. The girl's still alive." He offered pointedly ignoring his mark. 'Seriously that girl damned pervert.' He thought shaking his head.

Glynda didn't say anything and just sat back on the couch. She must've stood up at some point in her rage.

 _With Ruby_

After Ruby left the stadium, she found herself on a secluded area of the roof of her dorm. Sitting down she let out a satisfied sigh. 'Ohhhh yeahhh that… felt good…' She thought to herself with a smile. It didn't take long for her to see a flash of light in front of her. "Hey Neo." She said with a wave.

Neo slowly walked towards the downed girl reminding her of a predator stalking its prey.

"Did you-" She started only to be cut off by a pair of lips. They sat there locked in each other's embrace for a few minutes before finally breaking for air.

"Yes." Neo signed breathlessly. "Yes, yes, yes a million times yes."

With a small chuckle Ruby wrapped her arms around her girlfriend. "I told you so." She said before sighing. "I'm glad."

"You'll have to give me the details of what exactly went on in there because I couldn't see all of it, but for now we should find some place to hide." She signed getting a questioning look from the hooded menace. "You crippled a girl on live TV broadcasting across all four kingdoms. The army is looking for you, and your teammates probably are too, but I don't know what each of their goals are."

"Hmm alright let's head to Kyle's room." Ruby said standing up.

"Wait wouldn't Goodwitch be there?" Neo asked.

"Probably, but aside from the city where else could we feasibly go?"

Neo thought for a moment before shrugging. There were places they could probably go, but they'd be found eventually regardless might as well get the hardest part out of the way first. Glynda is much worse than any army anyway.

With nothing left to say the duo disappeared in a flash of white.

 **A/N: Well that's that. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Real quick I wanted to say near the end of the fight like when things started going really badly for poor Emerald I happened to be listening to music and the Naruto OST _Need to be strong_ came on, and my lord was it perfect setting music. Would recommend. **

**Anywho I suppose I'l go right into it, sorry for the long delay, but I don't think this one was too bad? I don't know. Now for reviews. There weren't many for the recent chapter, so this should be short.**

 **Ember228: I'm curious if my plans for the end have been so easily seen through, but I'm glad you like the story. Neo x Ruby is always a fun one for me because whenever I think of the two of them together I think of that meme with the lawful, neutral, chaotic thing, and these two together just encompass every part of the chaotic spectrum, and I love it. And yea that was the "cheap shot".**

 **Kharaki: I don't know what to say every time I read your review I laugh at the master criminal Glynda part. Certainly makes an interesting fic idea doesn't it? And yes the Melanie Miltia thing with Weiss I wasn't expecting anyone to see that coming because I myself didn't.**

 **FEV Grim: I will not tell you who the contract is. Yet.**

 **Yubella: I'll be honest the harem idea never really crossed my mind here. Can you imagine Neo or Ruby being cool with that? I can't, but it'd be funny as hell to write a sequence of it. In fact I might do that.**


	30. Chapter 30

**Disclaimer: I don't own anyhting**

Chapter 29

 _Knock_

 _Knock_

 _Knock_

"I wonder who that could be." A rather sarcastic feminine voice sounded as she looked towards the door. "Would you be a dear and retrieve your student for me?" She asked in the same tone.

Kyle just rolled his eyes and walked towards the door. "Sarcasm is unbecoming of you sweetheart." He called before opening the door. 'She was right on the money.' He mused.

In front of the door stood his and Roman's protégés.

"Ruby, Neo, I'd almost say I'm surprised." He said looking at the two.

Ruby smiled and rubbed the back of her head. "We know Glynda is probably here, but we wanted to get this part over with quick."

Nodding he let the two in and closed the door behind them. Before they took more than three steps, the two girls were enveloped in a purple aura that held them suspended in the air.

"Hey Glynda." Ruby said with a sheepish grin.

"Ms. Rose… do you have any idea what you've just done in that stadium?" She asked walking towards the two. Everyone in the room knew that at least Ruby could get out of the good witch's semblance if she wanted to, so either she was currently too weak to do so, or more likely, she was trying to appease her. That minute detail made Glynda shake her head internally. 'This girl will be the death of my sanity. Just like her mentor.'

"If we're going with the interrogation can we do it sitting down? I came here knowing you'd be here; we won't be running away." Ruby asked.

Goodwitch glared at the two for a long minute before sighing and dropping them to the ground. After moving everyone to the center of the living room area, the headmistress sent another withering glare towards Ruby.

"Do you have any idea what your actions have caused?" She asked quietly.

"I know what I did looked bad, but I _did_ ask Kyle last night about what I should do." She said looking over to said man. He didn't seem to respond to what she said, but then again, he'd probably already said something to the woman beforehand.

"I'm aware that you discussed this last night." Glynda started with a glare towards the reaper. "That will be a more in-depth conversation later, but I need to inform you of what you've just done. I take it Neo is filled in on everything you are regarding special topics?"

Ruby nodded and Neo gave the teacher a smile.

"Good that means I can speak freely. Ruby you may've had your reasons to do what you did out there, and in reality I don't have any personal feelings towards the girl you harmed, but as I huntress I'm disappointed and furious with what you've done."

"I've acted like that before!" Ruby protested before being silenced by a glare.

"I'm not referring to your actions against young Ms. Sustrai, a pawn of the queen. No, I'm talking about where you decided to pull off this ridiculous stunt! Millions of people across Remnant were tuned in to the Vytal tournament, and they all witnessed one student remove the arm of another. People all over the world had reactions and feelings towards what happened. Most of them were probably negative, as I'm sure you noticed after your departure from the ring. Now for a small review. What do strong negative emotions attract?"

Ruby nodded. "The Grimm." 'Have I furthered her plans more than I meant to?' She asked herself.

Glynda herself nodded. "I'm almost certain that the huntsmen and other personnel are having to deal with increased Grimm attacks on the borders of the kingdoms, and some maybe from within said kingdoms. I-" She was interrupted by a ring tone. With a sigh she took out her scroll. "Yes sir?"

"…"

"Very well I will make my way there now. Is there anything else?"

"I will let him know." She said before hanging up with a sigh. "The headmaster wants you to keep an eye on Ruby." She said directing a glare towards the reaper.

"And what did the illustrious headmaster have in mind for you?" He asked with a tinge of sarcasm.

"The situation at the coliseum has been quelled and the fights are scheduled to continue, though the army still seems to be on the lookout for our troublemaker here." She paused to look at Ruby whistling innocently. "You've been disqualified by the way. I'm needed there to help in case any _other_ surprises occur. Anything you wish to inform me of that I should be aware of?"

"Sorry Glynda I got nothing for ya." Ruby responded with a smile. "But I'm sure you can handle any other nuisances that might spring up."

"Right… I'm not sure of his reasoning, but Ozpin didn't mention bringing you in, so I'll be expecting you all here when I return." She said getting a mock salute from Ruby and Neo.

Once she left for the stadium the room fell into silence. Kyle sat back down on the couch and unmuted the TV to see the current state of the coliseum. True to her words the crowd seemed back to how they were before the maiming, and the matches were set to resume in an hour. Most of the contestants for the final's rounds were back on the platform area waving and entertaining the crowd. However, there was one notable individual missing from the lineup.

"Hmm I wonder where Pyrrha ran off to." Ruby thought aloud looking at the television.

Neo shrugged in response before wandering towards the kitchen area and raiding the freezer. A few moments later she returned with a bowl of ice cream.

"I wasn't aware I had ice cream in there." Kyle said from his seat. 'They probably put it there at some point. Teleportation is annoyingly difficult to track.'

 _Knock_

 _Knock_

 _Knock_

"I wonder who it is." Ruby said walking towards the door.

"You sure you should be the one answering?" The reaper called out to her.

"I'll look through the peephole relax." She said doing just that. 'Huh… not who I was expecting.'

Opening the door, she was met with a nervous looking Pyrrha Nikos.

"Oh Ruby, thank goodness you're here." She said in a relieved tone. "May I come in?" She asked politely.

Ruby stood to the side and nodded. "How'd you know I'd be here?" 'I expected my teammates to check here, or perhaps the army people, but how'd Pyrrha know I'd come here?'

"When you didn't answer your own team's door, I decided to try here next. If I didn't find you, I would've just had to go back to the arena and talk to you later." She said quickly taking note of the others in the room. After another look around, she wheeled back on Ruby. "Ruby I need your advice." She whispered, throwing Ruby for a loop.

'She's looking around paranoid, she seems jumpy, and she tracked me down purely for advice… she's going insane.' Ruby summed up in her head. "What's wrong?" She asked trying to calm the girl.

Pyrrha took a deep breath before beginning quietly. "I'm… really confused right now… the other day you helped me when we talked about our positions as team leaders, so you're the first one who I thought of to talk to this about." She started getting a nod from Ruby. "I've been… presented with an amazing opportunity. I could theoretically do a lot of good for the world if I accept."

"Theoretically… what's the reality?" Ruby probed.

"Well nothing could come of it… but that's the better of the alternatives." She said with a small frown. "If it works, there's a chance I could lose who I really am." She said vaguely.

'Hmm what're they planning?' Kyle thought from where he was sitting.

"Pyrrha…" The rose said getting her attention. "I need you to explain what you're talking about. You came to me for this, so to help you I need to know what's going on." She said grabbing onto the taller girl's shoulders. "Just tell me what the problem is. I'm great at keeping secrets." She added with a grin.

The champion glanced at the others in the room. "Are you sure?" She asked hesitantly.

"Don't worry! Kyle doesn't care, Neo wouldn't speak a word of it to anyone, and I just told you I'd keep this a secret."

"Ruby… I'm going to trust you on this, but you _must_ believe me. I know it sounds crazy, but have you heard the story of the four seasons?" She asked getting a mental facepalm from two of the four people in the room.

"Pyrrha wait a minute." She started before said girl cut her off.

"Let me explain it before you shrug the idea off!" She pleaded but was silenced when Ruby put her hand over her mouth. If she looked closely, she could've seen a look on her young friend's face, but it was gone as soon as it appeared.

"I know about the maidens already." She said clearly making Pyrrha's eyes widen. "As do they." She added nodding to the others in the room. "Did Ozpin come to you about this?"

"Yes… the headmaster and a few others." Pyrrha answered slowly.

"Must've been what that meeting they had was about." A voice added from the couch.

Ruby looked between her mentor and her fellow team leader. "What exactly are they trying to get you to do?"

"The… current fall maiden was attacked, and apparently part of her power was stolen. They didn't seem to know how it was done, but she's only still alive because of some machines she's hooked up to. What the headmaster wanted to do was… transfer her power into me, so it doesn't seek out its other half."

"How were they planning to do this?"

"Some kind of machines they have down there." She answered. "I don't know much about any of it, and they said it was experimental at best."

"They're tampering with souls that's a dangerous game to be playing." Kyle said finally standing and walking over to the girls. Neo was still standing off to the side not really having any contributions to this topic.

"They said it could be dangerous." Pyrrha nodded before looking to Ruby and then the combat professor. "What should I do? I've been thinking about it for a bit, but they said I would have to make a decision by the end of the tournament."

Ruby was silent for a minute thinking about everything she'd heard. She looked to Kyle, but his face was passively blank. "What do you really think about the whole thing?" She asked turning back towards the Amazonian.

"I… I want to do what I can to help however I can, and if that means going through with this then… I think I'd be willing to do it." She said staring to the ground.

' _This is so boring…'_

"Pyrrha… I won't lie. Messing with souls is something that even _I_ wouldn't do, but if you think that you can do it, and the end result will help others then I think it fits right along with what a huntress should be. Taking risks to their own person in exchange for the protection of others. It's a part of the job after all." She said with a beaming smile.

Pyrrha gave her a small smile in return. "Thank you Ruby." She said quietly. "I really needed this, but I should probably head back to the stadium." She said before turning back to the door. "By the way I don't condone what you did to that other girl!" She admonished as she left.

As soon as the door shut, Ruby's smile fell into a blank expression.

"I'm running out of patience for today." She muttered massaging her forehead.

"What? You did a great job there. Being an encouraging friend and everything." The reaper said ruffling her hair with an amused grin.

"Neo you're doing the next encouraging speech." Ruby said as she fell next to her girlfriend who had relocated to the couch.

"You're the one going to school for this stuff." Neo waved dismissively.

"She's got a point half-pint." Kyle said sitting down with them.

"Ugh…" She paused and went quiet getting the attention of the others. "Would I have ended up like that if I had a normal childhood?" She asked looking to the window. 'Would I be anything like the girl I am now?'

"Judging by your family and respective parents then it wouldn't be too far of a stretch." Kyle offered.

"She's so innocent." Ruby said absentmindedly before hearing another knock on the door. "Neo please." She asked with the dreaded puppy eyes.

Neo while relatively unaffected, shrugged before getting up and walking towards the door.

"Thanks! Love you!" Ruby called happily from her seat.

'Send the mute girl to answer the door, that's a wonderful idea.' Neo mentally muttered before checking the peephole. 'So, it's those three.' She thought opening the door.

"Neo… so Ruby must be here too, right?" She asked getting a nod.

"Come on in." She signed eyeing the twins following Ruby's partner.

"Oh joy, more guests." Ruby muttered half-heartedly making Weiss raise an eyebrow.

"I originally came here to chew you out for that stunt at the stadium, but… you look exhausted." The Schnee heiress said.

"Weiss… if you're going to chew me out then go ahead, or don't Glynda already did that." She said standing in front of her partner.

"If Professor Goodwitch has already done so, then I won't bother repeating anything." Weiss said getting a sigh of relief from the red reaper. "Now… I need to say something she probably didn't." She added looking to the ground nervously.

Despite her initial grievances, Ruby was curious. "Alright… what is it?"

Weiss looked at everyone else in the room before grabbing her partner's wrist and dragging her to a more secluded space. With the layout of the room there weren't many options, so she dragged the cloaked girl into the bathroom.

The four remaining people just looked on confused. Kyle eyed Neo in slight wariness. She could take the heiress's actions a lot of ways. When she felt his gaze, she made eye contact, but she was just as confused as the others.

"You think she's trying to make a harem?" Melanie asked her sister getting an odd look from the others in the room. "What?"

"Before you say something to get us all killed let's like not talk about this." Miltia said covering her sister's mouth with her hand.

Neo was less than amused at that specific idea. Weiss could like and date whoever she wanted, but Ruby was hers. _Only_ hers.

The reaper just shook his head. 'Why're they doing all of this in my room?'

 _In the bathroom_

"Umm Weiss…? I like you and all, but only as a friend." Ruby said raising a hand.

"What? No, you dunce be serious!" Weiss yelled thumping her partner on the head.

"Ow." She muttered holding her head. "That was rude… what is it then?"

"Like I said earlier, Glynda probably did her job or will do her job and chew you out for what you did to that girl. What I want from you is a promise." She said sternly.

"What kind of promise?" Ruby asked back just as serious. Ruby loved Weiss and all, but she wouldn't do anything outlandish just per request.

"I'd like to think I'm getting to know you better and better the more time we spend together, am I wrong?" Ruby shook her head no. "I didn't think so, I know that despite what you might want everyone to believe, you usually have a reason for your actions. A method to your madness as it were. Even if they aren't always the best." She muttered thinking briefly of the leader of CRDL.

"I'd like to think I have a reason for my actions… are you trying to figure out what they are?" She asked neutrally.

"No." She said surprising her leader. "Loathe as I am to admit it, I don't really care one way or another about that girl, but what I want you to think about the next time you do something like that is _who's_ watching? You're my team leader, you're my partner, but more than that you're my… best friend" She said sheepishly. "So at least keep in mind how your actions impact those around you. How am I supposed to talk to my sister about you if the first thing she thinks of is you maiming people?" She asked with a small smile at the end.

Ruby just stared at her partner for a few seconds in silence before smiling herself. "I'll… try to keep that in mind Weiss." She said before hugging the heiress. To both their surprises, Weiss returned her hug.

"I don't have many friends Ruby, and you're really my first. I don't want to lose that over something trivial like this." She said softly. "That may make me selfish, but I don't care. Just be a bit more observant alright?"

"I'll do my best… bestie." She said breaking the hug with a grin.

"Quiet you dolt." Weiss said smoothing out her dress. "We should get out of here before the others start gossiping. I have a strong feeling one of the twins will start that train of thought."

"That's probably a good idea." Ruby said before putting a hand on Weiss's shoulder. "I know I've said it before, but again thank you. It means a lot that you're this… accepting of me." She said awkwardly looking to the ground.

"I've told you before, I trust you, and that hasn't come back to bite me yet, so I'll continue trusting you. Besides… you're one of the few who knows a bit about my past, and you helped me come to terms with that as well. It's only fair that I try and do the same for you." She said opening the door. "Come on you dolt. I don't know if I want to be here when Blake and Yang show up if they haven't already."

"They're coming too?" Ruby asked deflating slightly. This day was going to drag on forever.

"Probably." The ice queen shrugged. "I don't know where they stand with you currently, or where they stand with me now that I think about it, but I don't think they'll be here for the same reason I am."

"You're probably right." The mini reaper said with a sigh before the two walked out into a silent room. "So… what's the awkward silence for?" She asked the group.

"Making sure Melanie doesn't get us killed." Miltia offered receiving an elbow courtesy of her sister.

"Right…" Weiss said looking between everyone. "Well now that I've done what I need to, I'm going to go get some coffee. Melanie and Miltia you're both free to join me, but you can stay here if you want." She offered with a small smirk at the horrified looks on their faces.

"Let's go!" They said before darting out of the room.

Weiss just shook her head. "These two I swear." She muttered as she followed them.

Once they were all gone Neo walked up to Ruby with a frown on her face.

"What'd they say?" She asked with a sigh.

"Whitey asked if one of you was making a harem. I'll tell you right now, I'm not sharing what's mine." Neo signed never breaking eye contact.

Ruby nodded, whipped her arms around Neo's neck, and brought her in for a harsh kiss. After a few moments they broke the kiss and Neo felt cold metal at the back of her neck. Ruby had mercy resting against her skin.

"I'm yours and you're mine. I'm expecting the same thing you are. What's mine is mine, no matter what." She added a little pressure with her blades. "If you break that trust then I will kill you, whether we're connected at that point or not." She said before feeling a sharp point at her own neck. Looking down she saw the point of Neo's parasol.

"So, we're in agreement then?" Neo signed with her free hand. "Just us."

"Just us." Ruby said with a nod before sheathing her blades back into her cloak. The point of Neo's parasol sheathed itself as well.

"I'm not sure that's what most people mean when they refer to 'young love'." Kyle said making the two of them jump.

'Oh my Oum! I forgot he was here!' Ruby thought trying to regain control of her beating heart.

"If you two are done showing your affection through… death threats… then maybe you'd want to see who's at the door." He said.

"Your turn!" Ruby said as she and Neo hid on the couch.

Kyle raised an eyebrow before shaking his head. 'It _is_ my room; I suppose I should open the door.'

Opening the door, he was met by a familiar brawler, and a slightly less familiar cat.

"More people knocking on my door…" He muttered about to shut the door in their faces.

"Wait!" Yang yelled catching the door. "Do you know where Ruby is?"

"What for?" He asked feigning ignorance.

"Have you not been watching the Vytal Festival? Did you not see what she did to that innocent girl?!" The blonde asked growing more and more intense.

"Calm down blondie." He said with a small yawn. "What do you need her for? If she did something stupid, she probably ran off somewhere to wait for everything to cool off. It's what I would do."

"Where would she go if not here?" Blake asked suspiciously.

"There's a few places in the city that she goes to with Neo." He offered.

"The city is a big place, where exactly would she go?" Blake asked again.

"Don't know. Have you tried calling her like a normal person?"

"She left her scroll in the dorm, we found it there earlier." Yang jumped back in.

"Then go find her yourself. I'm not her babysitter, she'll be fine on her own."

"She's your student! She could be picked up by the Atlesian Army if she isn't careful. Don't you want to prevent that from happening?" Yang asked her eyes flickering from lilac to red momentarily.

"Getting caught is a valuable learning experience to help ensure it doesn't happen again." He said sagely getting looks of disbelief from the two in front of him. "If you want to make sure she isn't picked up by Ironwood's forces, then find her first. I'd hurry if I were you, they have a head start and outnumber the two of you. The only thing you can do is think about where she'd most likely be. Your biggest advantage is knowing her after all." He finished.

"He's right I might have an idea! Come on Blake!" Yang said running off. Blake eyed the reaper for another second before following her partner.

'Well that was easy.' He thought to himself. When he walked back in Ruby and Neo gave him confused looks. "They're off to the city to try and find you before the military does." He shrugged before getting hit with a red blur.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She repeated quickly. "I don't know if I could handle them going after me too right now." She finished with a sigh.

"Just remember to know your opponent Ruby." He said tapping her head. "Yang wants to think she knows you the best, so play on that and make it a weakness. You have a habit of coming to me whenever shit hits the fan, so three different groups of people have successfully tracked you here. Well Glynda was waiting for you to show up, but that's beside the point. We both know Ozpin knows you're probably here as well. The only reason the general isn't busting down my door is because Ozpin won't let him."

Ruby looked down to the ground. "I knew Glynda would be here. That's precisely why we came. But you're right about the others." She admitted.

"I'm not saying you made the wrong move, but you were too narrow-minded. You wanted to get this over with, and then one distraction after another occurred."

"Hey Weiss and the twins don't count. I was actually happy about that one." She defended getting a questioning look from the reaper.

'Hmm finally making your own little family huh?' He thought before shaking his head. "Whatever you say." He said dismissively. "The festival will restart soon, let's see what fun Cinder has for the next matches."

 _ **Break**_

 _Amity Coliseum_

"We appreciate your patience everyone, the next match of the finals is about to be decided!" Professor Port's voice boomed across the arena. The fans roared their approval as the screen rolled through the contestants.

"For the next match we have Pyrrha Nikos from Beacon!" He called out as the first face was revealed. "And her opponent is… Penny Polendina of Atlas!"

 **A/N: Well there you have it folks. It is a rather short chapter, but after thinking about it I decided this would be a good place to stop. How was it? More importantly did anything in particular stick out to you?**

 **Oh well odd questions aside. I don't have anything specific I want to add so I guess it's review time.**

 **Hmm I saw a lot of Harem related mentions. I won't shoot anything down, but at the moment I don't know if our two little killers are willing to share.**

 **This one wasn't aimed towards this chapter, but Vilnious if you've reached this point I'll admit that he could've said those things to Yang and made her feel horrible and everything, but at the same time, it wouldn't have really meshed with his character. He has no reason to care about her feelings, so it isn't his business to build or break her. But you're right, had things not gone wrong then everything could've gone full circle and she would be out to get the reaper.**

 **Not a lot to comment on. I'll admit this probably isn't the most exciting chapter, but it's setting things up, and following this one there will probably be two or three more. Leaning closer to two.**

 **Until next time Follow, Favorite, Review, and whatever else you all do.**

 **~Laz out.**


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